Validation of the design of feeding experiments involving [14C]substrates used to monitor metabolic flux in higher plants

2008 ◽  
Vol 69 (17) ◽  
pp. 2920-2927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Harrison ◽  
Nicholas J. Kruger
1964 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 398-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Zenk ◽  
G. Müller

Feeding experiments with glucose- (2-14C), phenylalanine- (3-14C), tyrosine- (3-14C) and p-coumaric acid- (3-14C) showed that the latter three substances are incorporated in good yields into p-hydroxybenzoic acid in leaves of Catalpa ovata. Kinetic experiments showed that p-hydroxybenzoic acid is formed from phenylalanine via p-coumaric acid and the subsequent β-oxidation of the side chain. p-Hydroxybenzoic acid can also be synthetised by hydroxylation of benzoic acid, but this does not seem to be the biosynthetic route in Catalpa.Phenylalanine- (3-14C) is also incorporated into benzoic acid, protocatechuic acid, and vanillic acid by different plants; the radioactivity of the β-C atom of the amino acid was found in each case to be located in the carboxyl group of the C6 — C1 acid. This suggests that in higher plants the benzoic acids are formed from the corresponding cinnamic acids via β-oxidation.


1998 ◽  
Vol 333 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea DISCH ◽  
Jörg SCHWENDER ◽  
Christian MÜLLER ◽  
Hartmut K. LICHTENTHALER ◽  
Michel ROHMER

Isopentenyl diphosphate, the universal isoprenoid precursor, can be produced by two different biosynthetic routes: either via the acetate/mevalonate (MVA) pathway, or via the more recently identified MVA-independent glyceraldehyde phosphate/pyruvate pathway. These two pathways are easily differentiated by incorporation of [1-13C]glucose and analysis of the resulting labelling patterns found in the isoprenoids. This method was successfully applied to several unicellular algae raised under heterotrophic growth conditions and allowed for the identification of the pathways that were utilized for isoprenoid biosynthesis. All isoprenoids examined (sterols, phytol, carotenoids) of the green algae Chlorella fusca and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were synthesized via the GAP/pyruvate pathway, as in another previously investigated green alga, Scenedesmus obliquus, which was also shown in this study to synthesize ubiquinone by the same MVA-independent route. In the red alga Cyanidium caldarium and in the Chrysophyte Ochromonas danica a clear dichotomy was observed: as in higher plants, sterols were formed via the MVA route, whereas chloroplast isoprenoids (phytol in Cy. caldariumand O. danica and β-carotene in O. danica) were synthesized via the GAP/pyruvate route. In contrast, the Euglenophyte Euglena gracilis synthesized ergosterol, as well as phytol, via the acetate/MVA route. Similar feeding experiments were performed with the cyanobacterium SynechocystisPCC 6714 using [1-13C]- and [6-13C]-glucose. The two isoprenoids examined, phytol and β-carotene, were shown to have the typical labelling pattern derived from the GAP/pyruvate route.


Author(s):  
D. Reis ◽  
B. Vian ◽  
J. C. Roland

Wall morphogenesis in higher plants is a problem still open to controversy. Until now the possibility of a transmembrane control and the involvement of microtubules were mostly envisaged. Self-assembly processes have been observed in the case of walls of Chlamydomonas and bacteria. Spontaneous gelling interactions between xanthan and galactomannan from Ceratonia have been analyzed very recently. The present work provides indications that some processes of spontaneous aggregation could occur in higher plants during the formation and expansion of cell wall.Observations were performed on hypocotyl of mung bean (Phaseolus aureus) for which growth characteristics and wall composition have been previously defined.In situ, the walls of actively growing cells (primary walls) show an ordered three-dimensional organization (fig. 1). The wall is typically polylamellate with multifibrillar layers alternately transverse and longitudinal. Between these layers intermediate strata exist in which the orientation of microfibrils progressively rotates. Thus a progressive change in the morphogenetic activity occurs.


Author(s):  
James Cronshaw ◽  
Jamison E. Gilder

Adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity has been shown to be associated with numerous physiological processes in both plants and animal cells. Biochemical studies have shown that in higher plants ATPase activity is high in cell wall preparations and is associated with the plasma membrane, nuclei, mitochondria, chloroplasts and lysosomes. However, there have been only a few ATPase localization studies of higher plants at the electron microscope level. Poux (1967) demonstrated ATPase activity associated with most cellular organelles in the protoderm cells of Cucumis roots. Hall (1971) has demonstrated ATPase activity in root tip cells of Zea mays. There was high surface activity largely associated with the plasma membrane and plasmodesmata. ATPase activity was also demonstrated in mitochondria, dictyosomes, endoplasmic reticulum and plastids.


Author(s):  
A. E. Hotchkiss ◽  
A. T. Hotchkiss ◽  
R. P. Apkarian

Multicellular green algae may be an ancestral form of the vascular plants. These algae exhibit cell wall structure, chlorophyll pigmentation, and physiological processes similar to those of higher plants. The presence of a vascular system which provides water, minerals, and nutrients to remote tissues in higher plants was believed unnecessary for the algae. Among the green algae, the Chaetophorales are complex highly branched forms that might require some means of nutrient transport. The Chaetophorales do possess apical meristematic groups of cells that have growth orientations suggestive of stem and root positions. Branches of Chaetophora incressata were examined by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) for ultrastructural evidence of pro-vascular transport.


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