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Catabolism of [1-¹⁴C]Levulinic Acid by Etiolated and Greening Barley Leaves ¹

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Chicago, Illinois 60680

Levulinic acid (LA), a competitive inhibitor of -aminolevulinic acid (ALA) dehydratase (EC 4.2.1.24), has been used extensively in the study of ALA formation during greening. When [1-¹⁴C]LA is administered to etiolated barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. Larker) shoots in darkness, ¹⁴CO₂ is evolved. This process is accelerated when such tissues are incubated with 2 millimolar ALA or placed under continuous illumination. Label from the C-1 of LA becomes incorporated into organic acids, amino acids, sugars, lipids, and proteins during a 4-hour incubation in darkness or in the light. This metabolism is discussed in relation to the use of LA as a tool in the study of chlorophyll synthesis in higher plants.

¹ Supported by National Science Foundation Grants PCM 76-02308 and PCM 79-01605 and a grant from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Research Board (to M. L. G.). These studies formed part of a thesis submitted by J. X. D. to the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree.