SOURCES OF CARBON FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF PROTEIN AMINO ACIDS IN ATTACHED PHOTOSYNTHESIZING WHEAT LEAVES

1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 985-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hellebust ◽  
R. G. S. Bidwell

Attached, rapidly growing wheat leaves were allowed to photoassimilate C14O2 and C12O2 alternately. Samples of leaves were collected after each period of photosynthesis and were analyzed for amounts and total activities of soluble sugars and amino acids, and protein amino acids. The leaves were also analyzed for protein nitrogen and amounts and total activities of respired carbon. Samples of roots were also collected and the amounts, total activities, and specific activities of their soluble compounds were determined. It was possible to calculate from these data the proportions of carbon entering some protein amino acids which came either from soluble amino acid pools or by a direct route from photosynthate, bypassing the soluble pools. More than half of the carbon entering protein-bound serine and glycine was derived from newly assimilated CO2, while protein glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and alanine derived more of their carbon from the soluble amino acid pools. Analysis of the data from roots indicated that a considerable portion of the carbon translocated from the leaves was derived from newly assimilated CO2. There was some indication that protein turnover took place, but it was concluded that proteins could not have contributed significantly as substrates for respiration in these leaves.

1963 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 969-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hellebust ◽  
R. G. S. Bidwell

Detached primary wheat leaves and attached cotyledons and primary leaves of snapdragons were allowed to photoassimilate C14O2 for short periods of time. They were subsequently kept in air and samples were taken at various time intervals and analyzed for protein nitrogen, and amounts and total radioactivities of soluble sugars and amino acids and protein amino acids. A method of estimating protein turnover from these data is discussed. Amounts and specific activities of respired carbon were also determined for wheat leaves.Minimum protein turnover rates of about 0.5 to 1.5% per hour were found in rapidly growing snapdragon leaves and in snapdragon cotyledons. Lower rates were found in detached, non-growing wheat leaves and slowly growing snapdragon leaves. Little contribution could have been made by proteins as substrates for respiration in detached wheat leaves. It is suggested that protein turnover in leaves is mainly associated with growth and biochemical differentiation.


1964 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hellebust ◽  
R. G. S. Bidwell

Attached primary and secondary wheat leaves were supplied continuously with C14O2 during daily periods of photosynthesis for 3 days. Samples were analyzed for amounts and total activities of respired carbon, soluble sugars and amino acids, protein amino acids, and protein nitrogen. By labelling all possible protein precursors to the same extent it was possible to eliminate doubts about the specific activity of carbon entering protein. Hence turnover rates could be accurately established. Because tobacco leaves last for a long time, it was possible to label their proteins, wait until soluble compounds were at a low specific activity, and then measure turnover of proteins as radioactivity in them decreased.Protein amino acid turnover rates of 0.4–0.5% per hour were obtained in rapidly growing secondary wheat leaves and 0.2–0.3% per hour in non-growing primary wheat leaves. Turnover rates of 0.15–0.2% per hour were found in expanding tobacco leaves, but little or no turnover was found in fully expanded tobacco leaves.It is suggested that protein turnover is a facet of the biochemical differentiation that accompanies development, enlargement, or change in function of an organ without concomitant net protein synthesis.


1980 ◽  
Vol 35 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1094-1095
Author(s):  
Rüdiger Riehl

Abstract The oocytes of the marine goby Pomatoschistus minutus were analyzed for their amino acid content. Most of the amino acids exist as protein, only a little part is free or peptide-bound. Among the protein-bound amino acids, high levels of glutamic acid, proline, alanine, aspartic acid, valine and leucine were detected. These represent more than 60% of the protein amino acids. Among the free acids, glutamic acid, serine and alanine, are dominant. There are no certain proofs of the occurrence of peptide pools in the oocytes of Pomatoschistus minutus.


1964 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Hellebust ◽  
R. G. S. Bidwell

Attached and detached wheat leaves were supplied with C14O2 for a short period in light. They were then kept for 20 hours in the dark followed by 20 hours in light in air. Samples were taken at the beginning and end of each period and analyzed for protein nitrogen; and for amounts and total activities of respired carbon, soluble sugars, and amino acids and of protein amino acids.Similar patterns of protein metabolism were found in the two sets of leaves. The estimated protein amino acid turnover rates were somewhat higher in the detached than in the attached leaves but this may have been due to greater participation of soluble compounds which could not be translocated in detached leaves. There was a rapid synthesis of amides in the detached leaves during the light period, but this occurred at the expense of soluble sugars and supplied nitrogen salts rather than from protein breakdown products.Some contribution was made to respired CO2 by proteins during a period when protein turnover as well as a net decrease in proteins took place. During senescence, protein degradation contributed a considerable amount of carbon to respiration, but no protein turnover took place.


1997 ◽  
Vol 322 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. FITZGERALD ◽  
Alina M. SZMANT

Animals rely on their diet for amino acids that they are incapable either of synthesizing or of synthesizing in sufficient quantities to meet metabolic needs. These are the so-called ‘essential amino acids’. This set of amino acids is similar among the vertebrates and many of the invertebrates. Previously, no information was available for amino acid synthesis by the most primitive invertebrates, the Cnidaria. The purpose of this study was to examine amino acid synthesis by representative cnidarians within the Order Scleractinia. Three species of zooxanthellate reef coral, Montastraea faveolata, Acropora cervicornis and Porites divaricata, and two species of non-zooxanthellate coral, Tubastrea coccinea and Astrangia poculata, were incubated with 14C-labelled glucose or with the 14C-labelled amino acids glutamic acid, lysine or valine. Radiolabel tracer was followed into protein amino acids. A total of 17 amino acids, including hydroxyproline, were distinguishable by the techniques used. Of these, only threonine was not found radiolabelled in any of the samples. We could not detect tryptophan or cysteine, nor distinguish between the amino acid pairs glutamic acid and glutamine, or aspartic acid and asparagine. Eight amino acids normally considered essential for animals were made by the five corals tested, although some of them were made only in small quantities. These eight amino acids are valine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine histidine, methionine and lysine. The ability of cnidarians to synthesize these amino acids could be yet another indicator of a separate evolutionary history of the cnidarians from the rest of the Metazoa.


1989 ◽  
Vol 44 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 838-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Mach ◽  
M. Hecker ◽  
I. Hill ◽  
A. Schroeter ◽  
F. Mach

The viability of three isogenic relA+/relA strain pairs of Escherichia coli (CP78/CP79; NF 161/ NF162; CP 107/CP 143) was studied during prolonged starvation for amino acids, glucose or phosphate. After amino acid limitation we found a prolonged viability of all relA+ strains which synthesized ppGpp. We suggest that some ppGpp-mediated pleiotropic effects of the stringent response (e.g. glykogen accumulation, enhanced protein turnover) might be involved in this prolongation of survival. After glucose or phosphate starvation there was no difference in the relA+/relA strains either in the ppGpp content or in the survival.


Author(s):  
C.J. Seal ◽  
D.S. Parker ◽  
J.C. MacRae ◽  
G.E. Lobley

Amino acid requirements for energy metabolism and protein turnover within the gastrointestinal tract are substantial and may be met from luminal and arterial pools of amino acids. Several studies have demonstrated that the quantity of amino acids appearing in the portal blood does not balance apparent disappearance from the intestinal lumen and that changing diet or the availability of energy-yielding substrates to the gut tissues may influence the uptake of amino acids into the portal blood (Seal & Reynolds, 1993). For example, increased net absorption of amino acids was observed in animals receiving exogenous intraruminal propionate (Seal & Parker, 1991) and this was accompanied by changes in glucose utilisation by the gut tissues. In contrast, there was no apparent change in net uptake of [l-13C]-leucine into the portal vein of sheep receiving short term intraduodenal infusions of glucose (Piccioli Cappelli et al, 1993). This experiment was designed to further investigate the effects on amino acid absorption of changing glucose availability to the gut with short term (seven hours) or prolonged (three days) exposure to starch infused directly into the duodenum.


1972 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Shephard ◽  
Wendy B. Levin

The ability of chloroplasts isolated from Acetabulana mediterranea to synthesize the protein amino acids has been investigated. When this chloroplast isolate was presented with 14CO2 for periods of 6–8 hr, tracer was found in essentially all amino acid species of their hydrolyzed protein Phenylalanine labeling was not detected, probably due to technical problems, and hydroxyproline labeling was not tested for The incorporation of 14CO2 into the amino acids is driven by light and, as indicated by the amount of radioactivity lost during ninhydrin decarboxylation on the chromatograms, the amino acids appear to be uniformly labeled. The amino acid labeling pattern of the isolate is similar to that found in plastids labeled with 14CO2 in vivo. The chloroplast isolate did not utilize detectable amounts of externally supplied amino acids in light or, with added adenosine triphosphate (ATP), in darkness. It is concluded that these chloroplasts are a tight cytoplasmic compartment that is independent in supplying the amino acids used for its own protein synthesis. These results are discussed in terms of the role of contaminants in the observed synthesis, the "normalcy" of Acetabularia chloroplasts, the synthetic pathways for amino acids in plastids, and the implications of these observations for cell compartmentation and chloroplast autonomy.


Author(s):  
Kajal Chakraborty ◽  
Deepu Joseph

Silver bellies, Leiognathus splendens were studied for their spatial (south-west and south-east coasts of India), annual (2008–2011) and seasonal (pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon) variations of protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. The monthly mean Sea Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor data for the period from January 2008 to December 2011 were taken into account to indicate the distribution of the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll-a to test the hypothesis that surface productivity might be related to nutritional biochemistry of this species. The four year average total protein content and chlorophyll-a showed good correlation during monsoon on the south-west coast and monsoon/post-monsoon on the south-east coast, suggesting that the protein content is prejudiced by the chlorophyll-a concentration. Amino acid scores observed monsoon maxima along the south-west and south-east coasts. Significant seasonal variations in vitamin content were observed at the study locations with high content of vitamins D3, E, K1 and C on the south-west coast. Na content was maximal during pre-monsoon on the south-west coast, while post-monsoon maxima of Ca and K content were observed. The Fe, Mn and Zn were abundant in the samples collected from the south-west coast. The concentration of Se exhibited maximum values post-monsoon along the south-west and south-east coasts. The present study demonstrated L. splendens as a valuable source of the protein, amino acids, minerals and vitamins, showing that this low-value species is a good source of well balanced proteins with high biological value to be qualified as a preferred healthy food for human consumption.


1967 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1329-1333
Author(s):  
Michel Page ◽  
Claude Godin

The action of insulin on hemoglobin at pH 7.5 was studied. Four different methods were used to determine the degree of proteolysis. After mixtures of hemoglobin and insulin were incubated for 2 hours, very little amino acid or peptide material was liberated from the proteins. As many amino acids are liberated from hemoglobin when it is incubated alone under the same conditions. It is concluded that autolysis is responsible for the observed increases in non-protein amino acids and that insulin has no proteolytic activity under the conditions used in this study.


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