Summary
The extent and the mechanism of phytic acid decomposition in germinating wheat grain of a low-yielding and a high-yielding wheat variety have been investigated.
While in the high-yielding variety this decomposition was most important on the first, fifth, and seventh day of germination, in the low-yielding variety extensive decomposition began only on the second day and reached its maximum value on the fifth day of germination. If one accepts the criterion of Mellanby for the rate of phytic acid decomposition, it appears that phytic acid is completely decomposed within seven days in the high-yielding variety and within six days in the low-yielding variety. The increase of free orthophosphate was not equivalent to the decrease of phytic acid, the difference representing the amount of orthophosphate phosphorus uptake in oxidative and photosynthetic phosphorylation.
It was found that enzymatic hydrolysis of phytic acid in germinating wheat grain occurred stepwise, by the successive liberation of phosphoric acid and through the intermediate formation of penta-, tetra-, tri-, di-, and monophosphates of inositol, the final products being inositol and phosphoric acid. In ripe wheat grain before germination, only inositol hexaphosphate (phytic acid) was present.
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Paper 7: Glasnik hem. drustva (Beograd (Bull. soc. chim. Beograd)),28, 303–325 (1963)
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Mihailovic, M., Antić, M. & Hadžijev, D. Chemical investigation of wheat. Plant Soil 23, 117–128 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01349122
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01349122