The activity of NADH-, NADPH- and Fd-dependent glutamate synthase in the plastids and cytosol of Pisum arvense L. root cells
Three forms of glutamate synthase (NADH-GOGAT, NADPH-GOGAT and Fd-(ferredoxin) GOGAT) were found in the plastids and cytosol of <em>Pisum arvense </em>root cells. The activities of the enzymes of both fractions decreased with increasing age of the plants, with the exception of plastid NADPH-GOGAT which exhibited markedly stable activity. NADH-GOGAT dominated in the cytosol of root cells of several day-old plants but after 14 days of cultivation, the activities of all of the GOGAT forms equalized. Plastid NADH-GOGAT and Fd-GOGAT showed similar activities in the root cells of 3-5 day-old plants, with Fd-GOGAT becoming the dominant enzyme form after 14 days. The entire activity of NADH-GOGAT and Fd-GOGAT was confined to the plaslid stroma. The plastid membrane fraction contained 37% of the NADPH-GOGAT activity. Isolated plastids synthesized glutamate from 2-ketoglutarate and glutamine, and glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosophogluconate clearly stimulated this process. It is supposed that the synthesis of glutamate in <em>Pisum arvense </em>root plastids may be dependent on the intensity of the carbohydrates conversion in the pentose phosphate pathway.