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Published on June 18, 2008; 10.1104/pp.108.124644

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Received June 11, 2008
Accepted June 13, 2008

The transport of sugars to developing embryos is not via the bulk endosperm in Brassica napus seeds

Edward R. Morley-Smith , Marilyn J. Pike , Kim Findlay , Walter Kockenberger , Lionel M. Hill , Alison M. Smith *, and Stephen Rawsthorne

Departments of Metabolic Biology and Cell and Developmental Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom; and Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom

* Corresponding author; email: alison.smith{at}bbsrc.ac.uk.

The fate of sucrose supplied via the phloem to developing oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) seeds has been investigated, by supplying [14C]sucrose to pedicels of detached, developing siliques. The method gives high, sustained rates of lipid synthesis in developing embryos within the silique, comparable with those on the intact plant. At very early developmental stages (three days after anthesis), the liquid fraction that occupies most of the interior of the seed has a very high hexose to sucrose ratio and [14C]sucrose entering the seeds is rapidly converted to hexoses. Between three and 12 days after anthesis the hexose to sucrose ratio of the liquid fraction of the seed remains high, but the fraction of [14C]sucrose converted to hexose falls dramatically. Instead, most of the [14C]sucrose entering the seed is rapidly converted to products in the growing embryo. These data, together with light and NMR microscopy, reveal complex compartmentation of sugar metabolism and transport within the seed during development. The bulk of the sugar in the liquid fraction of the seed is probably contained within the central vacuole of the endosperm. This sugar is not in contact with the embryo, and is not on the path taken by carbon from the phloem to the embryo. These findings have important implications for the "sugar switch" model of embryo development, and for understanding of the relationship between the embryo and the surrounding endosperm.




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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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