Abstract
On following N2-incorporation and subsequent metabolism in the lichen Peltigera canina using 15N as tracer, it was found, over a 30 min period, that greatest initial labelling was into NH +4 followed by glutamate and the amide-N of glutamine. Labelling of the amino-N of glutamine, aspartate and alanine increased slowly. Pulse-chase experiments using 15N confirmed this pattern. On inhibiting the GS-GOGAT pathway using l-methionine-dl-sulphoximine and azaserine, 15N enrichment of glutamate, alanine and aspartate continued although labelling of glutamine was undetectable. From this and enzymic data, NH +4 assimilation in the P. canina thallus appears to proceed via GS-GOGAT in the cyanobacterium and via GDH in the fungus; aminotransferases were present in both partners. The cyanobacterium assimilated 44% of the 15N2 fixed; the remainder was liberated almost exclusively as NH +4 and then assimilated by fungal GDH.
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Abbreviations
- ADH:
-
alanine dehydrogenase
- APT:
-
aspartate-pyruvate aminotransferase
- AOA:
-
aminooxyacetate
- GDH:
-
glutamate dehydrogenase
- GOT:
-
glutamate-oxaloacetate aminotransferase
- GOGAT:
-
glutamate synthase
- GPT:
-
glutamate-pyruvate aminotransferase
- GS:
-
glutamine synthetase
- HEPES:
-
4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazine ethanesulphonic acid
- MSX:
-
l-methionine-dl-sulphoximine
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Rai, A.N., Rowell, P. & Stewart, W.D.P. Interactions between cyanobacterium and fungus during 15N2-incorporation and metabolism in the lichen Peltigera canina . Arch. Microbiol. 134, 136–142 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407946
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407946