Molecular evolution of the seed storage proteins of barley, rye and wheat.

The major storage proteins (prolamins) of barley, rye and wheat are characterized by the presence of two or more unrelated structural domains, one of which contains repeated sequences. Because of this repetitive structure and their restricted distribution (only in grasses), it has been suggested that the prolamins are of recent origin. Contrary to this hypothesis, we show that parts of the non-repetitive domain of one group of prolamins are homologous with sequences present in a large group of seed proteins from monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants; including Bowman-Birk protease inhibitors, cereal inhibitors of alpha-amylase and trypsin, and 2 S globulin storage proteins of castor bean and oil seed rape. This implies an ancient origin for these non-repetitive domains. The origins of the repetitive domains are not known but may lie within the grasses.

Nitrite reduction in leaves; Studies on isolated chloroplasts.

Chloroplast preparations from spinach leaves containing a high percentage of intact chloroplasts were capable of light dependent nitrite reduction at rates around 9 µmol/mg chlorophyll/h for at least 50 min. This reduction was inhibited by DCMU but unaffected by uncouplers of photosynthetic phosphorylation. Nitrite reduction was not accompanied by a stoichiometric evolution of oxygen evolution. The disappearance of nitrite was accompanied by an approximately stoichiometric formation of reduced nitrogen.

The location of nitrite reductase and other enzymes related to amino Acid biosynthesis in the plastids of root and leaves.

Density gradient separation of plastids from leaf and root tissue was carried out. The distribution in the gradients of the activity of the following enzymes was determined: nitrite reductase, glutamine synthetase, acetolactate synthetase, aspartate aminotransferase, catalase, cytochrome oxidase, and triosephosphate isomerase. The distribution of chlorophyll was followed in gradients from leaf tissue. The presence of plastids that have retained their stroma enzymes was denoted by a peak of triosephosphate isomerase activity. Coincidental with this peak were bands of nitrite reductase, acetolactate synthetase, glutamine synthetase, and aspartate aminotransferase activity. The results suggest that most, if not all, the nitrite reductase and acetolactate synthetase activity of the cell is in the plastids. The plastids were found to contain only part of the total glutamine synthetase, aspartate aminotransferase, and triosephosphate dehydrogenase activity in the cell. Some evidence was obtained for low levels of glutamate dehydrogenase activity in chloroplasts.

Studies on the sub-cellular location of particulate nitrate and nitrite reductase, glutamic dehydrogenase and other enzymes in barley roots.

The distribution of nitrate and nitrite reductase, glutamic dehydrogenase, cytochrome oxidase, fumarase, peroxidase and catalase in particular fractions of barley roots, separated by differential and density gradient centrifugation, has been determined. Evidence obtained suggests that there are three separate groups of particles, one, the mitochondria, containing cytochrome oxidase, fumarase and glutamic dehydrogenase, one containing catalase, and one containing nitrate and nitrite reductase. The results show that, under certain conditions, the high osmotic pressures obtained in sucrose density gradients may cause artefacts due to the release of enzymes, especially nitrite reductase, from the particles.

The role of light in nitrite reduction; Studies with leaf discs.

The reduction of nitrite by leaf discs has been studied. In short term experiments the reduction is markedly stimulated by light, but is not affected by the absence of oxygen or carbon dioxide from the gas phase. Carbon dioxide assimilation is more sensitive than nitrite reduction to 3-(3',4'-dichloro-)-1,1-dimethyl urea (DCMU) inhibition. Uncouplers such as carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl-hydrazone (CCCP) do not inhibit nitrite reduction although dinitrophenol (DNP) has a small effect.Although nitrite stimulates oxygen evolution in the light in the absence of CO2 the stoichiometry of nitrite reduction to oxygen evolution is much less than would be predicted if nitrite is simply acting as a classical Hill reagent.

Crop biotechnology. Where now?

Nature Biotechnology organized a conference in London on Agobiotech 99: Biotechnology and World Agriculture (November 14-16, 1999). The conference focused entirely on crop biotechnology and covered both societal and scientific aspects. Below is an account of the more important issues raised by the speakers and the audience.

Isolation of intact plastids from a range of plant tissues.

A technique for the isolation of intact plastids from spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and pea (Pisum sativum) leaves, pea roots and castor bean (Ricinus communis) endosperm is described. This technique involves brief centrifugation of whole homogenates on density gradients. Intact plastids were located in the gradient by assaying for triose phosphate isomerase activity. Contamination of the plastic peak with mitochondria and microbodies was estimated by measurement of cytochrome oxidase and catalase, respectively. For three of the four tissues the level of contamination of the plastids by these organelles was 2% or less. The sedimentation behavior of microbodies from different tissues is discussed.

Regulatory isoenzymes of aspartate kinase and the control of lysine and threonine biosynthesis in carrot cell suspension culture.

Aspartate kinase (EC 2.7.2.4) from carrot (Daucus carota L.) cell suspension culture has been partially resolved into lysine-sensitive and threonine-sensitive components by gel filtration chromatography. The yield of lysine-sensitive aspartate kinase changed independently of the yield of the threonine-sensitive activity during the 4-week growth cycle of the culture, and this provides additional evidence for the existence of two independently regulated isoenzymes. Exogenously supplied lysine and threonine specifically inhibited the in vivo formation of lysine and threonine, respectively, from radioactive acetate.

Properties and Regulation of Aspartate Kinase from Barley Seedlings (Hordeum vulgare L.).

Aspartate kinase (EC 2.7.2.4) has been purified 8-fold and characterized from germinating barley (Hordeum vulgare) seedlings. The enzyme is inhibited 50% by 0.7 mm l-lysine and almost completely at 5 mm. l-Methionine does not affect the enzyme on its own, but at low concentrations (0.1-1 mm) increases the inhibition in the presence of lysine, indicating that the two amino acids act as cooperative feedback regulators.

Studies on nitrite reductase in barley.

Nitrite reductase from barley seedlings was purified 50-60 fold by ammonium sulphate precipitation and gel filtration. No differences were established in the characteristics of nitrite reductases isolated in this way from either leaf or root tissues. The root enzyme accepted electrons from reduced methyl viologen, ferredoxin, or an unidentified endogenous cofactor. Enzyme activity in both tissues was markedly increased by growth on nitrate. This activity was not associated with sulphite reductase activity. Microbial contamination could not account for the presence of nitrite reductase activity in roots. Nitrite reductase assayed in vitro with reduced methyl viologen as the electron donor was inhibited by 2,4-dinitrophenol but not by arsenate.

Glutamine and asparagine as nitrogen donors for reductant-dependent glutamate synthesis in pea roots.

Glutamine, in the presence of alpha-oxoglutarate, stimulates nicotinamide nucleotide oxidation by crude extracts of pea roots and leads to a reductant-dependent formation of glutamate. Commercially available asparagine also stimulates nicotinamide nucleotide oxidation in the presence of alpha-oxoglutarate, but the reaction causing the stimulation can occur in the absence of a reductant, is inhibited by transaminase inhibitors, and is additive to the glutamine reaction. The asparagine used was found to be contaminated with aspartate. Repurified asparagine, chromatographically free of aspartate, did not stimulate the rate of nicotinamide nucleotide oxidation, and it is probable that the original stimulation was due to aspartate contamination. It is concluded that pea-root glutamine (amide)-alpha-oxoglutarate aminotransferase (glutamate synthase), in common with the enzyme in leaves, is specific for glutamine as the N donor and alpha-oxoglutarate as the N acceptor. The significance of the enzyme in conjunction with glutamine synthetase in the assimilation of nitrate by roots is discussed.

In vitro synthesis of barley storage proteins.

Membrane-bound polysomes were isolated from developing endosperms of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and shown to support the synthesis of trichloroacetic acid-insoluble material by an in vitro wheat germ protein synthesis system. The mRNA associated with the polysomes was separated from the ribosomes by affinity chromatography on oligo-dT cellulose and was also shown to support in vitro protein synthesis. The poly-A(+) RNA isolated contained material of between 0.55 and 2.55 kilobases in length with about 6% poly A. The products of in vitro protein synthesis resembled hordeins (the prolamin storage proteins of the barley endosperm) in that they were predominantly soluble in 55% propan-2-ol, contained a low proportion of lysine as compared with leucine and had similar, but not identical, electrophoretic properties. The differences in the electrophoretic behaviour between the products of poly-A(+) RNA translation and authentic hordeins is suggested to be due to the presence of an extra (leader?) sequence on the former.

Isolation and identification of mRNA for the high-molecular-weight storage proteins of wheat endosperm.

The prolamin storage proteins of the wheat endosperm contain a sub-class of high-molecular-weight (HMW) polypeptides which have been implicated in determining breadmaking quality. Membrane-bound polysomes isolated from developing wheat endosperms contain mRNA for these HMW components. Although unfractionated polyadenylated RNA derived from the polysomes did not direct the synthesis of these components in an in-vitro wheat-germ system, it did when incubated with a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system. Identification of the translation products as HMW prolamins was based on their large incorporation of [(3)H]leucine and [(3)H]glycine relative to [(3)H]lysine, their mobility on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and the observation that the changes of mobility in response to change in wheat genotype were the same as those observed for the authentic protein. The mRNA was fractionated by electrophoresis and density-gradient centrifugation. The mRNA for the HMW prolamins was found to have a relative molecular mass of about 1.6·10(6).

The effect of aspartate-derived amino acids (lysine, threonine, methionine) on the growth of excised embryos of wheat and barley.

Excised wheat (Triticum aestivum L. var. Maris Freeman) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. Maris Mink) embryos were grown on medium containing both nitrate and ammonium ions. Addition of lysine (1 mM) plus threonine (1 mM) caused a synergistic inhibition of growth measured by length of first leaf or dry weight. The inhibition was specifically relieved by methionine, homocysteine and homoserine. Threonine at 0.2-0.3 mM caused half-maximal inhibition of growth at all lysine concentrations whereas lysine increased the synergistic inhibition up to 3 mM. The inhibition is explained by a model in which lysine acts as a feedback inhibitor of aspartate kinase and threonine of homoserine dehydrogenase. This is compatible with published studies of the enzymes involved. The implications of these findings for using lysine plus threonine as a selection system for lysine-overproducing cereals are discussed.

Aspartate kinase and the synthesis of aspartate-derived amino acids in wheat.

Aspartate kinase (EC 2.7.2.4.) has been purified from 7 day etiolated wheat (Triticum aestivum L. var. Maris Freeman) seedlings and from embryos imbibed for 8 h. The enzyme was 50% inhibited by 0.25 mM lysine. In this study wheat aspartate kinase was not inhibited by threonine alone or cooperatively with lysine; these results contrast with those published previously. In vivo regulation of the synthesis of aspartate-derived amino acids was examined by feeding [(14)C]acetate and [(35)S]sulphate to 2-3 day germinating wheat embryos in culture in the presence of exogenous amino acids. Lysine (1 mM) inhibited lysine synthesis by 86%. Threonine (1 mM) inhibited threonine synthesis by 79%. Lysine (1 mM) plus threonine (1 mM) inhibited threonine synthesis by 97%. Methionine synthesis was relatively unaffected by these amino acids, suggesting that there are important regulatory sites other than aspartate kinase and homoserine dehydrogenase. [(35)S]sulphate incorporation into methionine was inhibited 50% by lysine (2 mM) plus threonine (2 mM) correlating with the reported 50% inhibition of growth by these amino acids in this system. The synergistic inhibition of growth, methionine synthesis and threonine synthesis by lysine plus threonine is discussed in terms of lysine inhibition of aspartate kinase and threonine inhibition of homoserine dehydrogenase.

The localisation of enzymes of nitrogen assimilation in maize leaves and their activities during greening.

The activities of nitrate reductase (EC1.6.6.1), nitrite reductase (EC 1.6.6.4), glutamine synthetase (EC6.3.1.2), glutamate synthase (EC1.4.7.1) and NAD(P)H-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase (EC 1.4.1.3) were investigated in mesophyll and bundle sheath cells of maize leaves (Zea mays L.). Whereas nitrate and nitrite reductase appear to be restricted to the mesophyll and GDH to the bundle sheath, glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase are active in both tissues.During the greening process, the activities of nitrate and nitrite reductase increased markedly, but glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthase and glutamate dehydrogenase changed little.

Effect of high-lysine mutations on the protein fractions of barley grain.

We have studied the effects of six high-lysine barley mutations (Risø mutants 1508 and 56, Notch 1 and 2, lys 95 and 449) on the protein fractions of the grain. All mutants had a decreased relative and total amount of the lysine-poor hordein fraction, but only in Risø 1508 and 56 was the polypeptide composition of this fraction greatly affected. In all the mutants there were increases in the lysine-rich glutelin proteins and in nonprotein N while in Risø 1508 and the Notch mutants the total amount of salt-soluble proteins was also increased and their relative polypeptide composition substantially altered.