The Effect of Sodium Chloride on the Balance between the C3‐ and C4‐Carbon Fixation Pathways

Young leaves of salt‐depleted Aeluropus litoralis Parl. plants show CO2 fixation by the C3‐carbon fixation pathway. No detectable activity of phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP) carboxylase was found. When A. litoralis plants were exposed to a NaCl solution, the leaves showed a high activity of PEP carboxylase as well as a significant CO2 fixation by the C4‐pathway. — Also in Zea mays L. and Chloris gayana Kunth., the presence of NaCl in the medium influences the balance between phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase and ribulose‐1,5‐diphosphate carboxylase.