Characterization of starch breakdown in the intact spinach chloroplast

Starch degradation with a rate of 1 to 2 microgram-atom carbon per milligram chlorophyll per hour was monitored in the isolated intact spinach (Spinacia oleracea) chloroplast which had been preloaded with (14)C-starch photosynthetically from (14)CO(2). Starch breakdown was dependent upon inorganic phosphate and the (14)C-labeled intermediates formed were principally those of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway from glucose phosphate to glycerate 3-phosphate. In addition, isotope was found in ribose 5-phosphate and in maltose and glucose. The appearance of isotope in the intermediates of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway but not in the free sugars was dependent upon the inorganic phosphate concentration. Dithiothreitol shifted the flow of (14)C from triose-phosphate to glycerate 3-phosphate. Iodoacetic acid inhibited starch breakdown and caused an accumulation of triose-phosphate. This inhibition of starch breakdown was overcome by ATP. The inhibitory effect of ionophore A 23187 on starch breakdown was reversed by the addition of magnesium ions. The formation of maltose but not glucose was impaired by the ionophore. The inhibition of starch breakdown by glycerate 3-phosphate was overcome by inorganic phosphate. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and ribose 5-phosphate did not affect the rate of polysaccharide metabolism but increased the flow of isotope into maltose. Starch breakdown was unaffected by the uncoupler (trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone), electron transport inhibitors (rotenone, cyanide, salicylhydroxamic acid), or anaerobiosis. Hexokinase and the dehydrogenases of glucose 6-phosphate and gluconate 6-phosphate were detected in the chloroplast preparations. It was concluded (a) that chloroplastic starch was degraded principally by the Embden-Meyerhof pathway and by a pathway involving amylolytic cleavage; (b) ATP required in the Embden-Meyerhof pathway is generated by substrate phosphorylation in the oxidation of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate to glycerate 3-phosphate; and (c) the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway is the probable source of ribose 5-phosphate.