Malate Dehydrogenases of Pisum sativum: Tissue Distribution and Properties of the Particulate Forms

Mitochondria and leaf microbodies isolated from leaves of pea (Pisum sativum) by sucrose density gradient centrifugation were each shown to have a unique form (isoenzyme) of malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37) based on chromatographic and kinetic properties. Root organelle preparations were shown to contain only a mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase with physical and kinetic properties similar to the leaf form. The absence of a detectable root microbody malate dehydrogenase similar to the leaf enzyme, which is intermediate in electrophoretic and chromatographic properties between the mitochondrial and soluble isoenzymes, was confirmed by diethylaminoethyl cellulose column chromatography and starch-gel electrophoresis of total homogenates from leaf and root tissue. These findings tend to support the role of the leaf microbody isoenzyme in a pathway unique to photosynthetic tissue.