Seed Development in Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Seminole: I. Developmental Independence of Seed Maturation

Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Seminole pods removed from the plant continued their development when incubated in suitable conditions. Seeds continued to grow and develop and pods and seeds passed through an apparently normal developmental sequence to dryness. Seed growth was at the expense of pod dry weight (DW) reserves. Losses of pod DW paralleled DW gains by seeds in detached pods and in pod cylinders containing a seed. The transfer activity was apparent only within the period 10 to 30 days after anthesis (DAA) with maximal activity between 15 to 20 DAA. This period corresponds to maximum pod growth and the attainment of maximal DW. Seeds are in only the early phase of seed growth at this time. No DW transfer was observed at developmental stages beyond 30 to 35 DAA when normal senescence DW losses in pods became evident and seeds were in the later phase of seed fill. Pods or pod cylinders remained green and succulent over the transfer period, later passing through yellowing and drying phases characteristic of normal development. DW transfer was dependent on funicle integrity and was readily detectable in pod cylinders after 7 days incubation. The DW transfer activity may contribute to continuing nutrition of seeds under conditions where the normal assimilate supply to seeds becomes limiting. Defoliation and water stress treatments applied to Phaseolus plants reduced seed yields but allowed persistence of seed maturation processes such that all seeds developing to dryness were capable of germination.     

Growth and composition of maize kernels cultured in vitro with varying supplies of carbon and nitrogen

This study employed in vitro seed culture to determine how C and N supply influence the growth (i.e. starch accumulation) and protein composition of maize (Zea mays L.) endosperm. Immature kernels were grown to maturity on liquid medium containing various concentrations of C (sucrose at 234 millimolar [low] and 468 millimolar [high]) and N (amino acid mixture ranging in N from 0 to 144 millimolar). Low C supply limited starch, but not N, accumulation in the endosperm. With high C, endosperm starch and protein content increased concomitantly as N supply increased from 0 to 13.4 millimolar. Endosperm growth was unaffected by additional N until concentrations exceeding approximately 72 millimolar reduced starch accumulation. A similar inhibition of starch deposition occurred with lower N concentrations when kernels were grown with low C. Endosperm total N content reached a point of saturation with approximately 36 millimolar N in the medium, regardless of C supply. Zein synthesis in the endosperm responded positively across all N levels, while glutelin content remained static and albumin/globulin proteins were reduced in amount when N supply was greater than 36 millimolar. A reciprocal, inverse relationship was observed in mature endosperm tissue between the concentrations of free amino acids and soluble sugars. Our data suggest that under N stress starch and protein accumulation in the endosperm are interdependent, at least in appearance, but are independent otherwise.     

Synthesis of methylated ethanolamine moieties: regulation by choline in soybean and carrot

The results of experiments in which intact plants of Lemna paucicostata were labeled with either l-[³H₃C]methionine, l-[¹⁴CH₃]methionine, or [1,2-¹⁴C]ethanolamine support the conclusion that growth in concentrations of choline of 3.0 micromolar or above brings about marked decreases in the rate of biosynthesis of methylated forms of ethanolamine (normally present chiefly as phosphatidylcholine, with lesser amounts of choline and phosphocholine). The in vivo locus of the block is at the committing step in the biosynthetic sequence at which phosphoethanolamine is methylated by S-adenosylmethionine to form phosphomethylethanolamine. The block is highly specific: flow of methyl groups originating in methionine continues into S-adenosylmethionine, S-methylmethionine, the methyl moieties of pectin methyl ester, and other methylated metabolites. When choline uptake is less than the total that would be synthesized by control plants, phosphoethanolamine methylation is down-regulated to balance the uptake; total plant content of choline and its derivatives remains essentially constant. At maximum down-regulation, phosphoethanolamine methylation continues at 5 to 10% of normal. A specific decrease in the total available activity of AdoMet: phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase, as well as feedback inhibition of this enzyme by phosphocholine, and prevention of accumulation of phosphoethanolamine by down-regulation of ethanolamine synthesis may each contribute to effective control of phosphoethanolamine methylation. This down-regulation may necessitate major changes in S-adenosylmethionine metabolism. Such changes are discussed.     

Chloroplast protein import : quantitative analysis of precursor binding

The first step of chloroplast protein import is binding of a precursor protein to the surface of the organelle. Precursor binding for the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase to isolated pea chloroplasts was investigated using a receptor-ligand binding assay. Translocation of precursors was blocked by conducting the binding assays at 0°C. Binding of precursor was judged to be receptor mediated by the following criteria: (a) precursor binding was saturable at between 1500 and 3500 molecules per chloroplast; (b) binding is a high affinity interaction with a dissociation constant of 6 to 10 nanomoles; (c) binding is physiologically productive since most of the bound precursors could be imported from the bound state; and (d) precursor binding was sensitive to both protease and the sulfhydryl modifying reagent N-ethylmaleimide. The effects of these two reagents differed in that protease reduced the total number of binding sites from the surface of chloroplasts but had little effect on binding affinity, whereas N-ethylmaleimide reduced the binding affinity but had little or no effect on receptor density.     

Catalase Synthesis and Turnover during Peroxisome Transition in the Cotyledons of Helianthus annuus L

Based on measurements of total catalase hematin and the degradation constants of catalase hematin, zero order rate constants for the synthesis of catalase were determined during the development of sunflower cotyledons (Helianthus annuus L.). Catalase synthesis reached a sharp maximum of about 400 picomoles hematin per day per cotyledon at day 1.5 during the elaboration of glyoxysomes in the dark. During the transition of glyoxysomes to leaf peroxisomes (greening cotyledons, day 2.5 to 5) catalase synthesis was constant at a level of about 30 to 40 picomoles hematin per day per cotyledon. In the cotyledons of seedlings kept in the dark (day 2.5 to 5) catalase synthesis did not exceed 10 picomoles hematin per day per cotyledon. During the peroxisome transition in the light, total catalase hematin was maintained at a high level, whereas total catalase activity rapidly decreased. In continuous darkness, total catalase hematin decreased considerably from a peak at day 2. The results show that both catalase synthesis and catalase degradation are regulated by light. The turnover characteristics of catalase are in accordance with the concept that glyoxysomes are transformed to leaf peroxisomes as described by the one population model and contradict the two population model and the enzyme synthesis changeover model which both postulate de novo formation of the leaf peroxisome population and degradation of the glyoxysome population.     

Photosynthetic apparatus of pea thylakoid membranes : response to growth light intensity

We investigated the effect of growth light intensity on the photosynthetic apparatus of pea (Pisum sativum) thylakoid membranes. Plants were grown either in a growth chamber at light intensities that ranged from 8 to 1050 microeinsteins per square meter per second, or outside under natural sunlight. In thylakoid membranes we determined: the amounts of active and inactive photosystem II, photosystem I, cytochrome b/f, and high potential cytochrome b₅₅₉, the rate of uncoupled electron transport, and the ratio of chlorophyll a to b. In leaves we determined: the amounts of the photosynthetic components per leaf area, the fresh weight per leaf area, the rate of electron transport, and the light compensation point. To minimize factors other than growth light intensity that may alter the photosynthetic apparatus, we focused on peas grown above the light compensation point (20-40 microeinsteins per square meter per second), and harvested only the unshaded leaves at the top of the plant. The maximum difference in the concentrations of the photosynthetic components was about 30% in thylakoids isolated from plants grown over a 10-fold range in light intensity, 100 to 1050 microeinsteins per square meter per second. Plants grown under natural sunlight were virtually indistinguishable from plants grown in growth chambers at the higher light intensities. On a leaf area basis, over the same growth light regime, the maximum difference in the concentration of the photosynthetic components was also about 30%. For peas grown at 1050 microeinsteins per square meter per second we found the concentrations of active photosystem II, photosystem I, and cytochrome b/f were about 2.1 millimoles per mol chlorophyll. There were an additional 20 to 33% of photosystem II complexes that were inactive. Over 90% of the heme-containing cytochrome f detected in the thylakoid membranes was active in linear electron transport. Based on these data, we do not find convincing evidence that the stoichiometries of the electron transport components in the thylakoid membrane, the size of the light-harvesting system serving the reaction centers, or the concentration of the photosynthetic components per leaf area, are regulated in response to different growth light intensities. The concept that emerges from this work is of a relatively fixed photosynthetic apparatus in thylakoid membranes of peas grown above the light compensation point.     

Role of nonohmicity in the regulation of electron transport in plant mitochondria

The relationship between the respiratory rate and the membrane ionic current on the protonmotive force has been investigated in percoll purified potato mitochondria. The dependence of the membrane ionic current on the membrane potential was monitored using a methyltriphenylphosphonium-sensitive electrode and determining the maximal net rate of depolarization following the addition of a respiratory inhibitor. We have confirmed that a nonohmic relationship exists between the ionic conductance and membrane potential. Addition of ATPase inhibitors markedly increased the initial rate of dissipation suggesting that in their absence the dissipation rate induced by respiratory inhibitors is partially offset by H⁺-efflux due to the hydrolysis of endogenous ATP. This was corroborated by direct measurement of endogenous ATP levels which decreased significantly following dissipation of the membrane potential. Results are discussed in terms of the regulation of electron transport in plant mitochondria in vivo.     

Light-induced spectral absorbance changes in relation to photosynthesis and the epoxidation state of xanthophyll cycle components in cotton leaves

When cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L., cv Acaia SJC-1) leaves kept in weak light were suddenly exposed to strong red actinic light a spectral absorbance change took place having the following prominent characteristics. (a) It was irreversible within the first four minute period after darkening. (b) The difference in leaf absorbance between illuminated and predarkened leaves had a major peak at 505 nanometers, a minor peak at 465 nanometers, a shoulder around 515 nanometers, and minor troughs at 455 and 480 nanometers. (c) On the basis of its spectral and kinetic characteristics this absorbance change can be readily distinguished from the much faster electrochromic shift which has a peak at 515 nanometers, from the slow, so-called light-scattering change which has a broad peak centered around 535 nanometers and is reversed upon darkening, and from absorbance changes associated with light-induced chloroplast rearrangements. (d) The extent and time course of this absorbance change closely matched that of the deepoxidation of violaxanthin to zeaxanthin in the same leaves. (e) Both the absorbance change and the ability to form zeaxanthin were completely blocked in leaves to which dithiothreitol (DTT) had been provided through the cut petlole. DTT treatment also caused strong inhibition of that component of the 535-nanometer absorbance change which is reversed in less than 4 minutes upon darkening and considered to be caused by increased light scattering. Moreover, DTT inhibited a large part of nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence in the presence of excessive light. However, DTT had no detectable effect on the photon yield of photosynthesis measured under strictly rate-limiting photon flux densities or on the light-saturated photosynthetic capacity, at least in the short term. We conclude that it is possible to monitor light-induced violaxanthin de-epoxidation in green intact leaves by measurement of the absorbance change at 505 nanometers. Determination of absorbance changes in conjunction with measurements of photosynthesis in the presence and absence of DTT provide a system well suited for future studies of meachanisms of dissipation of excessive excitation energy in intact leaves.     

Mode of Action Studies on Nitrodiphenyl Ether Herbicides : II. The Role of Photosynthetic Electron Transport in Scenedesmus obliquus

The nitrodiphenyl ether herbicide 5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-2-nitroacetophenone oxime-o-(acetic acid, methyl ester) (DPEI) induces light- and O₂-dependent lipid peroxidation and chlorophyll (Chl) bleaching in the green alga Scenedesmus obliquus. Under conditions of O₂-limitation, these effects are diminished by prometyne and 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), both inhibitors of photosynthetic electron transport. Mutants in which photosynthetic electron transport is blocked are also resistant to DPEI under conditions of O₂-limitation. Light- and O₂-dependent lipid peroxidation and Chl bleaching are also induced by 5-[2-chloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy]-3-methoxyphthalide (DPEII), a diphenyl ether whose redox properties preclude reduction by photosystem I. However, these effects of DPEII are also inhibited by DCMU. Under conditions of high aeration, DCMU does not protect Scenedesmus cells from Chl bleaching induced by DPEI, but does protect against paraquat. DPEI, but not paraquat, induces tetrapyrrole formation in treated cells in the dark. This is also observed in a mutant lacking photosystem I but is suppressed under conditions likely to lead to O₂ limitation. Our results indicate that, in contrast to paraquat, the role of photosynthetic electron transport in diphenyl ether toxicity in Scenedesmus is not to reduce the herbicide to a radical species which initiates lipid peroxidation. Its role is probably to maintain a sufficiently high O₂ concentration, through water-splitting, in the algal suspension.     

Rapid in Vivo Acylation of Acyl Carrier Protein with Exogenous Fatty Acids in Spirodela oligorrhiza

Posttranslational acylation of several chloroplast proteins with palmitic acid was recently demonstrated in Spirodela oligorrhiza (AK Mattoo, M Edelman [1987] Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84: 1497-1501). We have now identified an in vivo acylated, soluble protein having an apparent M_r of 10 kilodaltons on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as an acylated form of acyl carrier protein (ACP). This 10-kilodalton protein is present in low abundance, and its acylation is light-stimulated. Turnover of the acyl moiety but not the apo-protein is rapid in the light. The acylated 10-kilodalton protein coelectrophoreses with in vitro synthesized palmitoyl-acyl carrier protein and is immunoprecipitated from soluble extracts with an antibody raised against spinach ACP. Cerulenin, an inhibitor of β-ketoacyl-ACP synthetase, inhibited in vivo acylation of Spirodela ACP. Cell-free extracts of Spirodela plants were able to catalyze the transfer of palmitate from palmitoyl-CoA to ACP, suggesting the existence in higher plants of a pathway for acylation of ACP that involves transacylation from acyl-CoA.