Photorespiratory enzyme serine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (SGAT, EC 2.6.1.45) was purified from green parts of seedlings of two Gramminae species with different photosynthetic pathways, maize (Zea mays L., C(4) species) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L., C(3) species). The preparation from wheat was homogeneous as judged by SDS-PAGE with silver staining for proteins; however, the same method revealed approximately 9% contamination in a highly purified maize preparation. Molecular masses of SGAT from maize and wheat were estimated by SDS-PAGE to be 44.1 and 44.6 kDa, respectively. C(4) enzyme exhibited a specific activity in homogenates that was seven times lower than wheat, and this was associated with lower K (m) values for all substrates examined as well as a more than two times lower turnover number k (cat) with serine and glyoxylate as a pair of substrates. In contrast, the ratio of the turnover number to K (m)(Ser)(k (cat)/K (m)(Ser)) for C(4) aminotransferase proved to be about two times higher than for C(3) aminotransferase. The sensitivity of two enzymes to some inhibitors, especially aminooxyacetate, was different and they also differed with respect to thermal stability and pH optimum - the maize enzyme required 0.6 unit higher pH (8.6) for maximal activity and was more heat-resistant.
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings contain four alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT) homologues. Two of them encode AlaAT enzymes, whereas two homologues act as glumate:glyoxylate aminotransferase (GGAT). To address the function of the distinct AlaAT homologues a comparative examination of the changes in transcript level together with the enzyme activity and alanine and glutamate content in wheat seedlings subjected to low oxygen availability, nitrogen and light deficiency has been studied. Shoots of wheat seedlings were more tolerant to hypoxia than the roots as judging on the basis of enzyme activity and transcript level. Hypoxia induced AlaAT1 earlier in roots than in shoots, while AlaAT2 and GGAT were unaffected. The increase in AlaAT activity lagged behind the increase in alanine content. Nitrogen deficiency has little effect on the activity of GGAT. In contrast, lower activity of AlaAT and the level of mRNA for AlaAT1 and AlaAT2 in wheat seedlings growing on a nitrogen-free medium seems to indicate that AlaAT is regulated by the availability of nitrogen. Both AlaAT and GGAT activities were present in etiolated wheat seedlings but their activity was half of that observed in light-grown seedlings. Exposure of etiolated seedlings to light caused an increase in enzyme activities and up-regulated GGAT1. It is proposed that hypoxia-induced AlaAT1 and light-induced peroxisomal GGAT1 appears to be crucial for the regulation of energy availability in plants grown under unfavourable environmental conditions.Key message In young wheat seedlings, both AlaAT and GGAT are down-regulated by nitrogen deficiency, whereas AlaAT1 is upregulated by hypoxia and GGAT1 by light.
The photorespiratory enzyme L-serine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (SGAT; EC 2.6.1.45) was purified from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves. The final enzyme was approximately 80% pure as revealed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with silver staining. The identity of the enzyme was confirmed by LC/MS/MS analysis. The molecular mass estimated by gel filtration chromatography on Sephadex G-150 under non-denaturing conditions, mass spectrometry (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization/time of flight technique) and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was 82.4 kDa, 42.0 kDa, and 39.8 kDa, respectively, indicating dimer as the active form. The optimum pH value was 9.2. The enzyme activity was inhibited by aminooxyacetate and beta-chloro-L-alanine both compounds reacting with the carbonyl group of pyridoxal phosphate. The enzyme's transaminating activity with L-alanine and glyoxylate as substrates was approximately 55% of that observed with L-serine and glyoxylate. The lower Km value (1.25 mM) for L-alanine, compared with that of other plant SGATs, and the kcat/Km(Ala) ratio being approximately 2-fold higher than kcat/Km(Ser) suggested that, during photorespiration, Ala and Ser are used by Arabidopsis SGAT with equal efficiency as amino group donors for glyoxylate. The equilibrium constant (Keq), derived from the Haldane relation, for the transamination reaction between L-serine and glyoxylate with the formation of hydroxypyruvate and glycine was 79.1, strongly favoring glycine synthesis. However, it was accompanied by a low Km value of 2.83 mM for glycine. A comparison of some kinetic properties of the studied enzymes with the recombinant Arabidopsis SGATs previously obtained revealed substantial differences. The ratio of the velocity of the transamination reaction with L-alanine and glyoxylate as substrates versus that with L-serine and glyoxylate was 1:1.8 for the native enzyme, whereas it was 1:7 for the recombinant SGAT. Native SGAT showed a much lower Km value for L-alanine compared to the recombinant enzyme.
Alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT, EC 2.6.1.2) and glycine aminotransferase (GlyAT, EC 2.6.1.4), two different enzymes catalyzing transamination reactions with L-alanine as the amino-acid substrate, were examined in maize in which alanine participates substantially in nitrogen transport. Preparative PAGE of a partially purified preparation of aminotransferases from maize leaves gave 6 fractions differing in electrophoretic mobility. The fastest migrating fraction I represents AlaAT specific for L-alanine as amino donor and 2-oxoglutarate as amino acceptor. The remaining fractions showed three aminotransferase activities: L-alanine-2-oxoglutarate, L-alanine-glyoxylate and L-glutamate-glyoxylate. By means of molecular sieving on Zorbax SE-250 two groups of enzymes were distinguished in the PAGE fractions: of about 100 kDa and 50 kDa. Molecular mass of 104 kDa was ascribed to AlaAT in fraction I, while the molecular mass of the three enzymatic activities in 3 fractions of the low electrophoretic mobility was about 50 kDa. The response of these fractions to: aminooxyacetate, 3-chloro-L-alanine and competing amino acids prompted us to suggest that five out of the six preparative PAGE fractions represented GlyAT isoforms, differing from each other by the L-glutamate-glyoxylate:L-alanine-glyoxylate:L-alanine-2-oxoglutarate activity ratio.
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