Pyrimidine metabolism in cotyledons of germinating alaska peas

Cotyledons from Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska seeds were excised 12, 36, 108, 132, and 156 hours after imbibition in aerated distilled water. They were then incubated under aseptic conditions for 6 hours in solutions containing either uridine-2-(14)C or orotic acid-6-(14)C. Uridine was more extensively degraded to (14)CO(2) at all germination stages than was orotate, and these rates remained essentially constant at each stage. Incorporation of each compound into RNA increased about 2-fold from the 12th to the 156th hour, although the total RNA present decreased slightly over this interval. Paper chromatography of soluble labeled metabolites produced from orotate showed that the capacity to metabolize this pyrimidine increased markedly as germination progressed. Radioactivity in uridine-5'-P, uridine diphosphate-hexoses, and uridine diphosphate increased most, while smaller or less consistent increases in uridine, uracil, uridine triphosphate, and an unidentified UDPX compound were also observed. The data suggest that orotate metabolism was initially limited by orotidine-5'-phosphate pyrophosphorylase or by 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate. Incorporation of uridine into RNA appeared to be limited at the earliest germination periods by conversion of uridine-5'-P to uridine diphosphate. Thus, during the 1st week of germination the orotic acid pathway and a salvage pathway converting uridine into RNA become activated.