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Articles

Inhibition of Glutamate:Glyoxylate Aminotransferase Activity in Tobacco Leaves and Callus by Glycidate, an Inhibitor of Photorespiration ¹

Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, and Department of Biochemistry, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut 06504 ²

The effect of glycidate (2,3-epoxypropionate), an inhibitor of glycolate synthesis and photorespiration in leaf tissue, was studied on glutamate:glyoxylate and serine:glyoxylate aminotransferases and glycine decarboxylase activities in particulate preparations obtained from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) callus and leaves. Glycidate specifically and effectively inhibited glutamate:glyoxylate aminotransferase. The inhibition was dependent on glycidate concentration and, to a lesser extent, on substrate concentration. The enzyme was not protected by either substrate. Even with saturating substrate concentrations the glycidate inhibition was only partially reversed. Under the in vitro assay conditions, glycidate inhibition of the aminotransferase was reversible. Glutamate:glyoxylate aminotransferase is the only enzyme of the glycolate pathway thus far examined which is severely inhibited by glycidate. However, in leaf discs, pretreatment with glycidate decreased both glutamate:glyoxylate and serine:glyoxylate aminotransferase activities suggesting binding by glycidate in vivo.

Glycidate increased the pool sizes of both glutamate and glyoxylate in leaf discs. It has been shown that increases in concentration of either of these metabolites decrease photorespiration and glycolate synthesis and increase net photosynthesis. It is proposed that glycidate inhibits photorespiration indirectly by increasing the internal concentrations of glutamate and glyoxylate, as a consequence of the inhibition of glutamate:glyoxylate aminotransferase activity.

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