Nucleotides and Nucleotide Sugars in Developing Maize Endosperms (Synthesis of ADP-Glucose in brittle-1)

As part of an in vivo study of carbohydrate metabolism during development of Zea mays L. kernels, quantities of nucleotides and nucleotide sugars were measured in endosperm extracts from normal, the single-mutant genotypes shrunken-1 (sh1), shrunken-2 (sh2), and brittle-1 (btl}, and the multiple-mutant genotypes sh1bt1, sh2bt1, and sh1sh2bt1. Results showed that bt1 kernels accumulated more than 13 times as much adenosine 5[prime] diphospho-glucose (ADP-Glc) as normal kernels. Activity of starch synthase in bt1 endosperm was equal to that in endosperm extracts from normal kernels. Thus the ADP-Glc accumulation in bt1 endosperm cells was not due to a deficiency in starch synthase. ADP-Glc content in extracts of sh1bt1 endosperms was similar to that in bt1, but in extracts of the sh2bt1 mutant kernels ADP-Glc content was much reduced compared to bt1 (about 3 times higher than that in normal). Endosperm extracts from sh1sh2bt1, kernels that are deficient in both ADP-Glc pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) and sucrose synthase, had quantities of ADP-Glc much lower than in normal kernels. These results clearly indicate that AGPase is the predominant enzyme responsible for the in vivo synthesis of ADP-Glc in bt1 mutant kernels, but Suc synthase may also contribute to the synthesis of ADP-Glc in kernels deficient in AGPase.