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Amino acid and sucrose contents were analyzed in the chloroplastic, cytosolic, and vacuolar compartments and in the phloem sap of illuminated spinach leaves (Spinacia oleracea L.). The determination of subcellular metabolite distribution was carried out by nonaqueous fractionation of frozen and lyophilized leaf material using a novel three-compartment calculation method. The phloem sap was collected by aphid stylets which had been severed by a laser beam. Subcellular analysis revealed that the amino acids found in leaves are located mainly in the chloroplast stroma and in the cytosol, the sum of their concentrations amounting to 151 and 121 millimolar, respectively, whereas the amino acid concentrations in the vacuole are one order of magnitude lower. The amino acid concentrations in the phloem sap are found to be not very different from the cytosolic concentrations, whereas the sieve tube concentration of sucrose is found to be one order of magnitude higher than in the cytosol. It is concluded that the phloem loading results in a preferential extraction of sucrose from the source cells.

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Abstract. Cellular and subcellular volumes in mature leaves of spinach (Spinacia oteracea L. US Hybrid 424) were determined stereologically from light and electron micrographs. Forty-nine-day-old leaves of spinach with a total leaf volume of 1177 gL per mg chlorophyll (Chl) were found to be composed of 3% epidermis, 58% mesophyll, 1% vascular tissue, 5% apoplasm and 32% gas space. In the epidermal cells 89% of the volume was occupied by the vacuole. The mesophyll cells consisted, expressed in mg-Chl -~, of 546 gL (79%) vacuole, 66 ~tL (9.5%) chloroplast stroma, 24 gL (3.4%) cytosol, 3.7 ~tL (0.5%) mitochondria and 2.1 gL (0.3%) nucleus. From previous measurements of the subcellular levels of sucrose, of phosphorylated intermediates of carbohydrate metabolism, of malate, oxoglutarate and various amino acids in illuminated leaves, and the above subcellular volumes, the corresponding subcellular metabolite concentrations have been determined. Of the substances measured, only with malate was the concentration higher in the vacuole than in the cytosol. The concentration of sucrose in the cytosol was 5 times, and that of amino acids even 30 times higher than in the vacuole.

Abstract. Metabolite concentrations in subcellular compartments from mature barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv.Apex) leaves after 9 h of illumination and 5 h of darkness were determined by nonaqueous fractionation and by the stereological evaluation of cellular and subcellular volumes from light and electron micrographs. Twenty oneday-old primary leaves of barley with a total leaf volume of 902 gL per mg chlorophyll were found to be composed of 27% epidermis, 42% mesophyll cells, 6% veins, 4.5% apoplast and 23% gas space. While in epidermal cells 99% of the volume was occupied by the vacuole, mesophyll cells with an average volume of 31.3 pL consisted of 23 pL (73%) vacuole, 4.6 pL (19%) chloroplasts, 2.06 pL (6,7%) cytosol (including smaller organelles and vesicles), 0.34 pL (1%) mitochondria and 107 fL (0.34%) nucleus. The differences between leaves harvested after 9 h of illumination and after 5 h of darkness were in the size of the stromal compartment and the starch grains therein. Subcellular metabolite concentrations were calculated from the compartmental volumes and metabolite contents of the compartments as determined by nonaqueous fractionation. The amino-acid concentrations in stroma and eytosol were rather similar after 9 h of illumination and 5 h of darkness. In contrast, the vacuolar amino-acid concentrations were about one order of magnitude lower than the stroma and cytosol values, and there was a slight increase in concentration after 5 h of darkness.

Starch synthesis in leaves was increased by phosphate starvation or by treatments which decreased cytoplasmic orthophosphate levels (such as mannose feeding). Usally less than 30% of the total carbon fixed during CO2 assimlation was incorporated into starch in spinach (Spinacia oleracca L.), spinach beet (Beta vulgaris), and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaves.In isolated spinach chloroplasts, formation of starch from CO2 was usualy less than in leaves.

It has been investigated whether diurnal rhythms of sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) are involved in controlling the rate of photosynthetic sucrose synthesis. Extracts were prepared from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leaves and assayed for enzyme activity. The activity of SPS increased in parallel with a rising rate of photosynthesis, and was increased by feeding mannose and decreased by supplying inorganic phosphate. In leaf material where sucrose had accumulated during the photoperiod or when sucrose was supplied exogenously, SPS activity decreased. During a diurnal rhythm, SPS activity increased after illumination, declined gradually during the light period, decreased further after darkening and then recovered gradually during the night. These changes did not involve an alteration of the maximal activity, but were caused by changes in the kinetic properties, revealed as a change in sensitivity to inhibition by inorganic phosphate. In experiments which modelled the response of SPS to changing metabolite concentrations, it was shown that these alterations of kinetic properties would strongly modify the activity of SPS in vivo. It is proposed that SPS can exist in kinetically distinct forms in vivo, and that the distribution between these forms can be rapidly altered. As the rate of photosynthesis increases there is an activation of SPS, which may be directly or indirectly linked to changes in the availability of Pi. This activation can be modified by factors related to the accumulation of sucrose. Under normal conditions there is a balance between these factors, and the leaf contains a mixture of the different forms of SPS.

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