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Regulation of photosynthetic sucrose synthesis: a role for calcium?

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Abstract

We have investigated whether changes of the cytosolic free-calcium concentration could regulate photosynthetic sucrose synthesis. Partially purified enzymes from spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.) leaves were assayed using calcium-EGTA buffers to obtain defined free-calcium concentrations in the low micromolar and submicromolar ranges. These concentrations of calcium did not directly affect sucrose-phosphate synthase activity. They inhibited the cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, acting competitively to magnesium. The Ki for calcium (1.2 μM) was 400-fold lower than the Km for magnesium. To investigate the in-vivo significance of these observations, the Ca2+ antagonists lanthanum (La3+), trifluoperazine, and ruthenium red were supplied to barley leaves via the transpiration stream. All three antagonists selectively inhibited sucrose synthesis: they inhibited 14C incorporation into sucrose at concentrations which did not affect starch synthesis; in low light, partitioning was changed towards starch without altering the rate of photosynthesis; there was a characteristic change in the induction kinetics of photosynthesis; and there was an accumulation of phosphorylated metabolites in the leaf. The detailed changes in metabolite levels indicate that La3+ was acting via inhibition of the fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, trifluoperazine via blockage of the turnover of inorganic pyrophosphate, and ruthenium red via changes in the activation state (phosphorylation) of sucrose-phosphate synthase. The results are discussed in terms of a possible contribution of calcium to the regulation of carbon metabolism.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

chlorophyll

Fru1,6bisP:

fructose-1,6bis-phosphate

Fru1,6bisPase:

fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (E.C. 3.1.3.11)

Fru2,6bisP:

fructose-2,6-bisphosphate

Fru2,6bisPase:

fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (E.C. 3.1.3.46)

Fru6P:

fructose-6-phosphate

Fru6P,2-kinase:

fructose-6-phosphate,2-kinase (E.C. 2.7.1.105)

Glc1P:

glucose-1-phosphate

Glc6P:

glucose-6-phosphate

Pi:

inorganic phosphate

PPi:

inorganic pyrophosphate

SPS:

sucrose-phosphate synthase (E.C. 2.3.1.14)

TFP:

trifluoperazine

UDPGlc:

uridine diphosphoglucose

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenphysiologie, Universität Bayreuth, D-8580, Bayreuth, Germany

    Monika Brauer & Mark Stitt

  2. Department of Biology, University of York, YOI 5DD, York, UK

    Dale Sanders

Authors
  1. Monika Brauer
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  2. Dale Sanders
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  3. Mark Stitt
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Additional information

The work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 137; M.B., M.S.) and the Agricultural and Food Research Council (PG 87/38; D.S.). We are grateful to Dr. Tony Miller for measuring the final free Ca2+ in selected samples of Fru1,6-bisPase assay buffer, to Fr. U. Küchler for typing the manuscript, and to Fr. L. Badewitz for the artwork.

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Brauer, M., Sanders, D. & Stitt, M. Regulation of photosynthetic sucrose synthesis: a role for calcium?. Planta 182, 236–243 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00197117

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