Purification and Biochemical Characterization of Sucrose synthase from the Stem of Nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

Sucrose synthase is a key enzyme in sucrose metabolism as it saves an important part of sucrose energy in the uridine-5'-diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose) molecule. As such it is also involved in the synthesis of fundamental molecules such as callose and cellulose, the latter being present in all cell walls of plant cells and therefore also in the gelatinous cell walls of sclerenchyma cells such as bast fibers. Given the importance of these cells in plants of economic interest such as hemp, flax and nettle, in this work we have studied the occurrence of Sucrose synthase in nettle stems by analyzing its distribution between the cytosol, membranes and cell wall. We have therefore developed a purification protocol that can allow the analysis of various characteristics of the enzyme. In nettle, Sucrose synthase is encoded by different genes and each form of the enzyme could be subjected to different post-translational modifications. Therefore, by two-dimensional electrophoresis analysis, we have also traced the phosphorylation profile of Sucrose synthase isoforms in the various cell compartments. This information paves the way for further investigation of Sucrose synthase in plants such as nettle, which is both economically important, but also difficult to study.