Long-term Chilling of Young Tomato Plants under Low Light. VI. Differential Chilling Sensitivity of Ribulose-1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase is Linked to the Oxidation of Cysteine Residues

During long-term chilling under non-photoinhibitory conditions,ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase of the chilling-sensitive,cultivated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) lost a substantialamount of titrable sulfhydryl groups, both in the native andin the dissociated state, while the content of disulfide bondsincreased. In contrast, accessible cysteine residues of theenzyme isolated from chilling-tolerant, high-altitude linesof L. peruvianum (Mill.) were only inferiorly affected duringchilling stress. (Received November 30, 1994; Accepted April 3, 1995)