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When growing potato tubers are detached from their mother plant there is a rapid inhibition of starch synthesis, involving inhibition of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

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Abstract

Labelling experiments in which high-specific-activity [U-14C]sucrose or [U-14C]hexoses were injected into potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Desiree) tubers showed that within 1 d of detaching growing tubers from their mother plant, there is an inhibition of starch synthesis, a stimulation of the synthesis of other major cell components, and rapid resynthesis of sucrose. This is accompanied by a general increase in phosphorylated intermediates, an increase in UDP-glucose, and a dramatic decrease of ADP-glucose. No significant decline in the extracted activity of enzymes for sucrose degradation or synthesis, or starch synthesis is seen within 1 d, nor is there a significant decrease in sucrose, amino acids, or fresh weight. Over the next 7 d, soluble carbohydrates decline. This is accompanied by a decline in sucrose-synthase activity, hexose-phosphate levels, and the synthesis of structural cell components. It is argued that a previously unknown mechanism acting at ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase allows sucrose-starch interconversions to be regulated independently of the use of sucrose for cell growth.

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Abbreviations

AGPase:

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase; Glc=glucose

Glc6P (Glc1P):

glucose-6-phosphate(−1-phosphate)

Fru6P:

fructose-6-phosphate

Fru 2,6bisP:

fructose-2,6-bisphosphate

PEP:

phosphoenolpyruvate

3PGA:

3-phosphoglycerate

SPS:

sucrose-phosphate synthase

SuSy:

sucrose synthase

UG-Pase:

UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

UDPGLe:

urindine-5′-diphosphoglucose

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Author notes

  1. Lucia Merlo

    Present address: Dipartimento di Biotechnologie Agrarie, Universita di Padova, via Gradenigo, I-35131, Padova, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botanisches Institut, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Peter Geigenberger, Lucia Merlo, Ralph Reimholz & Mark Stitt

Authors
  1. Peter Geigenberger
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  2. Lucia Merlo
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  3. Ralph Reimholz
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  4. Mark Stitt
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Geigenberger, P., Merlo, L., Reimholz, R. et al. When growing potato tubers are detached from their mother plant there is a rapid inhibition of starch synthesis, involving inhibition of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase. Planta 193, 486–493 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02411552

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02411552

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