Localization of chloroplastic fatty acid synthesis de novo in the stroma

The synthesis of fatty acids de novo from [2-14C]malonyl-CoA was studied in fractions from lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and pea (Pisum sativum) chloroplasts. When lettuce chloroplasts were subjected to osmotic lysis, disintegration through a Yeda press and high-speed centrifugation, essentially all of the fatty-acid-synthetic activity was found to be soluble. The distribution of the activity in various chloroplast fractions was similar to that of soluble marker enzymes such as ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase and NADP+-linked glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Marked differences were apparent in the quality of products from fatty acid synthesis de novo in the various fractions of chloroplasts. Thus soluble fractions produced predominantly stearate, whereas those containing membranes produced a greater proportion of palmitate. In pea chloroplasts, osmotic lysis released almost all of the fatty acid synthetase into the stromal fraction. In this instance, no major alterations in the products of fatty acid synthesis were observed. The fatty-acid-synthetic activity of the stromal fraction was still soluble after prolonged ultracentrifugation. The results show clearly the soluble nature of fatty acid synthesis de novo in lettuce and pea chloroplasts. Thus fatty acid synthesis measured in microsomal fractions from such plant tissues is not due to the presence of chloroplastic membranes.