Abstract
In illuminated maize (Zea mays L.) leaves, the distribution of triose phosphates, 3-phosphoglycerate, malate and various amino acids between the chloroplastic and the extrachloroplastic compartments of mesophyll and bundle-sheath cells, and the total vacuolar fraction of the leaves, was determined by a combination of previously published methods, for separating mesophyll from bundle-sheath material, and for nonaqueous subcellular fractionation. The results show that the triose phosphate/3-phosphoglycerate ratio in the extrachloroplastic fraction of the mesophyll cells is about 20-fold higher than in the bundle-sheath cells, which is in accordance with a triose phosphate/phosphoglycerate shuttle postulated previously. Whereas the vacuolar compartment was shown to contain most of the cellular malate, amino acids were found to be almost absent from this compartment. The amino-acid pattern in the extrachloroplastic fraction of the bundle-sheath cells largely resembled the pattern in whole leaves. These results show that for future studies the analysis of amino-acid contents in whole maize leaves can be used as a measure for the amino-acid levels in the cytosol of bundle-sheath cells.
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Abbreviations
- BS:
-
bundle sheath
- Chl:
-
chlorophyll
- αMan:
-
α-mannosidase
- ME:
-
malic enzyme
- MDH:
-
malate dehydrogenase
- MS:
-
mesophyll
- PEPCase:
-
phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase
- PGA:
-
3-phosphoglycerate
- trioseP:
-
triose phosphate
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This work was supported by the Bundesminister für Forschung und Technologie.
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Weiner, H., Heldt, H.W. Inter- and intracellular distribution of amino acids and other metabolites in maize (Zea mays L.) leaves. Planta 187, 242–246 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201946
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00201946