Summary
Hydrolytic activity towards synthetic substrates and denatured proteins was measured in the extracts of the seeds of kidney bean at various stages of germination up to 16 days.
Of the peptide hydrolases, chymotrypsin-type activity was stable for the first 7 days, then rapidly increased towards the end; leucine aminopeptidase activity decreased to a minimum (8th day) then slowly increased again; trypsin-type activity remained constant throughout.
Proteolytic and autodigesting activities showed an optimum between pH 5.0 and 5.5. Both activities decreased slowly first, then rose to a sharp maximum at the 8th day. The haemoglobin-digesting activity after a minimum increased again at the 14th day. The autodigesting activity had an additional maximum.
Concomitant with these changes, non-protein nitrogen increased twofold by the 5th day, remained constant up to the 12th day and then increased again. Protein content on the other hand decreased first, had a maximum at the 9th day after which it steadily decreased again. The amounts of albumins and globulins changed independently of each other: albumins decreased continuously with the exception of a steady period (5–9th days), while globulins were more stable except for a sharp minimum (6–7th days) and a steady decrease after the 13th day.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amen, R. S.: A model of seed dormancy. Bot. Rev. 34, 1 (1968).
Anson, M. L.: Estimation of pepsin, trypsin, papain and cathepsin with hemoglobin. J. gen. Physiol. 22, 79 (1938).
Beevers, L.: Protein degradation and proteolytic activity in the cotyledons of germinating pea seeds (Pisum sativum). Phytochemistry 7, 1837 (1968).
—, Splittstoesser, W. E.: Protein and nucleic acid metabolism in germinating peas. J. exp. Bot. 19, 698 (1968).
Bhatty, R. S.: Note on the development of proteolytic enzymes in germinating barley. Cereal Chem. 46, 74 (1969).
Bing, D. H.: Nature of the active site of a subunit of the first component of human complement. Biochemistry 8, 4503 (1969).
Enari, T. M.: The fate of barley proteins. Proc. Biochem. 3, 53 (1968).
Horiguchi, T., Kitagishi, K.: Change in protease activity and nitrogen compounds of germinating rice seeds. III. Rice germ protease. Nippon Dojo-Hiryogaku Zasshi 40, 255 (1969).
Ihle, J. N., Dure, III, L.: synthesis of a protease in germinating cotton cotyledons catalyzed by m.RNA synthesized during embryogenesis. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 36, 705 (1969)
Jacobsen, J. V., Varner, J. E.: Gibberellic-acid induced synthesis of a protease by isolated aleurone layers of barley. Plant Physiol. 42, 1596 (1967).
Kunitz, M.: Crystalline soybean trypsin inhibitor II. General properties. J. gen. Physiol. 30, 291 (1947).
Marcus, A., Feeley, J.: Protein synthesis in imbibed seeds. II. Polysome formation during imbibition. J. biol. Chem. 240, 1675 (1965).
—: Protein synthesis in imbibed seeds III. Kinetics of amino acid incorporation, ribosome activation, and polysome formation. Plant Physiol. 41, 1167 (1966).
Nagel, W., Willig, F., Peschke, W., Schmidt, F. M.: Über die Bestimmung von Trypsin und Chymotrypsin mit Aminosäure-p.-Nitroaniliden. Hoppe-Seylers Z. Physiol. Chem. 340, 1 (1965).
Osborne, T. B.: The vegetable proteins, p. 16. London-New York-Toronto-Bombay-Calcutta-Madras: Longmens, Green and Co. 1924.
Payne, P. I., Boulter, D.: Free and membrane-bound ribosomes of the cotyledons of Vicia faba (L) II. Seed germination. Planta (Berl.) 87, 63 (1969).
Prentice, N., Burger, W. C., Wiederholt, E.: Distribution of acidic and neutral peptidases in germinating barley. Physiol. Plantarum (Cph.) 22, 157 (1969).
Pusztai, A.: Studies on the extraction of nitrogeneous and phosphorus-containing materials from the seeds of kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). Biochem. J. 94, 611 (1965).
—: Hydrogen-ion equilibria of glycoprotein I from kidney bean. Arch. Biochem. 126, 289 (1968).
Shain, Y., Mayer, A. M.: Proteolytic enzymes and endogenous trypsin inhibitor in germinating lettuce seeds. Physiol. Plantarum (Cph.) 18, 853 (1965).
Singh, N.: Proteolytic activity of leaf extracts. J. Sci. Food Agric. 13, 325 (1962).
Sturani, E., Cocucci, S., Marse, E.: Hydration-dependent polysome-monosome interconversion in the germinating castor-bean endosperm. Plant Cell Physiol. 9, 783 (1968).
Tazawa, Y., Hirokawa, T.: Plant proteases VI. The proteolytic activity of soybean legumelin. J. Biochem. 43, 785 (1956).
Treffry, T., Klein, S., Abrahamsen, M.: Fine structural and biochemical changes in cotyledons of germinating soybeans. Anst. J. biol. Sci. 20, 859 (1967).
Wachsmuth, E. D., Fritze, I., Pfleiderer, G.: An aminopeptidase occurring in pig kidney I. An improved method of preparation. Physical and enzymic properties. Biochemistry 5, 169 (1966).
Wiley, L., Ashton, F. M.: Influence of the embryonic axis on protein hydrolysis in cotyledons of Cucurbita maxima. Physiol. Plantarum (Cph.) 20, 688 (1967).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The following abbreviations were used: BAPA, α-N-benzoyl-L-arginine-p-nitroanilidine; N-CBZ-Tyr-PA, α-N-carbobenzoxy-L-tyrosine-p-nitrophenyl ester; LPA, leucyl-p.nitroanilidine; BAEE, α-N-benzoyl-L-arginine ethyl ester, TCA, trichloroacetic acid.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pusztai, A., Duncan, I. Changes in proteolytic enzyme activities and transformation of nitrogenous compounds in the germinating seeds of kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Planta 96, 317–325 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386946
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386946