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Ribulose Diphosphate Carboxylase Synthesis in Euglena

Increased Enzyme Activity after Transferring Regreening Cells to Darkness

¹ Postgraduate School of Studies in Biological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, Yorkshire BD7 1DP, England

The transfer of dark-grown cultures of Euglena gracilis Klebs strain Z regreening in the light back into darkness resulted in a dramatic increase in ribulose diphosphate carboxylase activity. On a culture volume basis activity increased 4-fold over a 24-hour dark period, although on a protein basis activity declined because of rapid cell division. Mixed assays with light- and dark-growing cell extracts provided no evidence for the removal of an inhibitor of ribulose diphosphate carboxylase upon transferring regreening cells back to darkness. Although ribulose diphosphate carboxylase activity increased over a 24-hour dark period, there was no concomitant increase in the potential of the cells for photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation.

Higher light intensities than the optimum for ribulose diphosphate carboxylase synthesis during regreening resulted in a greater relative rate of synthesis on transfer to darkness so that the maximum activity of ribulose diphosphate carboxylase reached in the dark was constant, regardless of light intensity during regreening. A tentative hypothesis to explain these results is that the synthesis of the large and small subunits of ribulose diphosphate carboxylase occur at different stages of cell development, light being necessary for the synthesis of the large subunit and also for regulating the synthesis of the small subunit.