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Sucrose is metabolised by sucrose synthase and glycolysis within the phloem complex of Ricinus communis L. seedlings

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Abstract

Metabolites and enzyme activities were measured in the phloem sap exuding from a cut hypocotyl of germinating castor-bean (Ricinus communis L.) seedlings. The sap contained considerable quantities of adenine nucleotides, uridine nucleotides, uridine diphosphoglucose (UDPGlc), all the major phosphorylated metabolites required for glycolysis, fructose-2,6-bisphosphate and pyrophosphate. Supplying 200 mM glucose instead of sucrose to the cotyledons resulted in high concentrations of glucose in the sap, but did not modify the metabolite levels. In contrast, when 200 mM fructose was supplied we found only a low level of fructose but a raised sucrose concentration in the sap, which was accompanied by a three-to fourfold decrease of UDPGlc, and an increase of pyrophosphate, UDP and UTP. The measured levels of metabolites are used to estimate the molar mass action ratios and in-vivo free-energy change associated with the various reactions of sucrose breakdown and glycolysis in the phloem. It is concluded that the reactions catalysed by ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase are removed from equilibrium in the phloem, whereas the reactions catalysed by sucrose synthase, UDPGlc-pyrophosphorylase, phosphoglucose mutase, phosphoglucose isomerase, aldolase, triose-phosphate isomerase, phosphoglycerate mutase and enolase are close to equilibrium within the conducting elements of the phloem. Since the exuded sap contained negligible or undetectable activities of the enzymes, it is concluded, that the responsible proteins are bound, or sequesterd behind plasmodesmata, possibly in the companion cells. It is argued that sucrose mobilisation via a reversible reaction catalysed by sucrose synthase is particularily well suited to allow the rate of sucrose breakdown in the phloem to respond to changes in the metabolic requirement for ATP, and for UDPGlc during callose production. It is also calculated that the transport of nucleotides in the phloem sap implies that there must be a very considerable uptake or de-novo biosynthesis of these cofactors in the phloem.

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Abbreviations

Fru1,6bisP:

fructose-1,6-bisphosphate

Fru6P:

defructose-6-phosphate

Fru2,6bisP:

fructose-2,6-bisphosphate

Glc1P:

glucose-1-phosphate

Glc6P:

glucose-6-phosphate

PEP:

phosphoenol-pyruvate

PFK:

phosphofructokinase

PFP:

pyrophosphate: fructose-6-phosphate phosphotransferase

2PGA:

glycerate-2-phosphate

3PGA:

glycerate-3-phosphate

Pi:

inorganic phosphate

PPi:

inorganic pyrophosphate

UDPGlc:

uridine-5-diphosphoglucose

Susy:

sucrose synthase

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botanisches Institut, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, W-6900, Heidelberg, FRG

    Peter Geigenberger & Mark Stitt

  2. Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenphysiologie, Universität Bayreuth, W-8580, Bayreuth, FRG

    Silke Langenberger

  3. Institut für Biochemie der Pflanze, Untere Karspüle 2, W-3400, Göttingen, FRG

    Ingo Wilke, Dieter Heineke & Hans W. Heldt

Authors
  1. Peter Geigenberger
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  2. Silke Langenberger
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  3. Ingo Wilke
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  4. Dieter Heineke
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  5. Hans W. Heldt
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  6. Mark Stitt
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Additional information

This work was supported by Sandoz Agro Ltd. (Basel, Switzerland) (P.G.) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (P.G., S.L., M.S., I.W., D.H., H.W.H.). We are grateful to Dr. E. Beck (Universität Bayreuth) for providing laboratory facilities, and to Dr. E. Komor and Dr. C. Schobert (Universität Bayreuth) for introducing us to Ricinus, and for many stimulating discussions. We thank Mrs. G. Lohaus and Dr. U. Schurr for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Geigenberger, P., Langenberger, S., Wilke, I. et al. Sucrose is metabolised by sucrose synthase and glycolysis within the phloem complex of Ricinus communis L. seedlings. Planta 190, 446–453 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224782

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224782

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