No evidence for the occurrence of substrate inhibition of Arabidopsis thaliana sucrose synthase-1 (AtSUS1) by fructose and UDP-glucose

Plant Signal Behav. 2012 Jul;7(7):799-802. doi: 10.4161/psb.20601. Epub 2012 Jul 1.

Abstract

Sucrose synthase (SuSy) catalyzes the reversible conversion of sucrose and NDP into the corresponding nucleotide-sugars and fructose. The Arabidopsis genome possesses six SUS genes (AtSUS1-6) that code for proteins with SuSy activity. As a first step to investigate optimum fructose and UDP-glucose (UDPG) concentrations necessary to measure maximum sucrose-producing SuSy activity in crude extracts of Arabidopsis, in this work we performed kinetic analyses of recombinant AtSUS1 in two steps: (1) SuSy reaction at pH 7.5, and (2) chromatographic measurement of sucrose produced in step 1. These analyses revealed a typical Michaelis-Menten behavior with respect to both UDPG and fructose, with Km values of 50 μM and 25 mM, respectively. Unlike earlier studies showing the occurrence of substrate inhibition of UDP-producing AtSUS1 by fructose and UDP-glucose, these analyses also revealed no substrate inhibition of AtSUS1 at any UDPG and fructose concentration. By including 200 mM fructose and 1 mM UDPG in the SuSy reaction assay mixture, we found that sucrose-producing SuSy activity in leaves and stems of Arabidopsis were exceedingly higher than previously reported activities. Furthermore, we found that SuSy activities in organs of the sus1/sus2/sus3/sus4 mutant were ca. 80-90% of those found in WT plants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / enzymology*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
  • Fructose / pharmacology*
  • Glucosyltransferases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Glucosyltransferases / metabolism
  • Kinetics
  • Plant Extracts / metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Substrate Specificity / drug effects
  • Sucrose / metabolism
  • Uridine Diphosphate Glucose / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Plant Extracts
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Fructose
  • Sucrose
  • Glucosyltransferases
  • sucrose synthase
  • sucrose synthase-1, Arabidopsis
  • Uridine Diphosphate Glucose