Plant enolase: gene structure, expression, and evolution

Enolase genes were cloned from tomato and Arabidopsis. Comparison of their primary structures with other enolases revealed a remarkable degree of conservation, except for the presence of an insertion of 5 amino acids unique to plant enolases. Expression of the enolase genes was studied under various conditions. Under normal growth conditions, steady-state messenger and enzyme activity levels were significantly higher in roots than in green tissue. Large inductions of mRNA, accompanied by a moderate increase in enzyme activity, were obtained by an artificial ripening treatment in tomato fruits. However, there was little effect of anaerobiosis on the abundance of enolase messenger. In heat shock conditions, no induction of enolase mRNA was observed. We also present evidence that, at least in Arabidopsis, the hypothesis that there exists a complete set of glycolytic enzymes in the chloroplast is not valid, and we propose instead the occurrence of a substrate shuttle in Arabidopsis chloroplasts for termination of the glycolytic cycle.