Induction of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase by anoxia in rice seedlings

Rice (Oryza sativa) seeds were imbibed for 3 days and the seedlings were further incubated for 8 days in the presence of either air or nitrogen. In aerobiosis, the specific activity of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase and that of the ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase increased about fourfold. In anaerobiosis, the specific activity of ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase remained stable, whereas that of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase increased as much as in the presence of oxygen and there was also a fourfold increase in the concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, a potent stimulator of that enzyme. These data suggest a preferential involvement of pyrophosphate:fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase rather than of ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase in glycolysis during anaerobiosis.

Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate hydrolyzing enzymes in higher plants

The phosphatases that hydrolyze fructose 2,6-bisphosphate in a crude spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaf extract were separated by chromatography on blue Sepharose, into three fractions, referred to as phosphatases I, II, and III, which were further purified by various means. Phosphatase I hydrolyzed fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, with a K(m) value of 30 micromolar, to a mixture of fructose 2-phosphate (90%) and fructose 6-phosphate (10%). It acted on a wide range of substrates and had a maximal activity at acidic pH. Phosphatase II specifically recognized the osyl-link of phosphoric derivatives and had more affinity for the beta-anomeric form. Its apparent K(m) for fructose 2,6-bisphosphate was 30 micromolar. It most likely corresponded to the fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase described by F. D. Macdonald, Q. Chou, and B. B. Buchanan ([1987] Plant Physiol 85: 13-16). Phosphatase III copurified with phosphofructokinase 2 and corresponded to the specific, low-K(m) (24 nanomolar) fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase purified and characterized by Y. Larondelle, E. Mertens, E. Van Schaftingen, and H. G. Hers ([1986] Eur J Biochem 161: 351-357). Three similar types of phosphatases were present in a crude extract of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tuber. The concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate decreased at a maximal rate of 30 picomoles per minute and per gram of fresh tissue in slices of Jerusalem artichoke tuber, upon incubation in 50 millimolar mannose. This rate could be accounted for by the maximal extractable activity of the low-K(m) fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase. A new enzymic method for the synthesis of beta-glucose 1,6-bisphosphate from beta-glucose 1-phosphate and ATP is described.

Fructose 2,6-bisphosphate in germinating oat seeds. A biochemical study of seed dormancy

When dormant oat seeds were imbibed at the non-permissive temperature of 30 degrees C, the concentration of phosphoenolpyruvate and of glycerate 3-phosphate, which are two inhibitors of phosphofructokinase 2, increased almost linearly during 30 h. By contrast, these metabolites increased only after a lag period of about 10 h in non-dormant seeds imbibed at the same temperature. As a consequence of this, the concentration of the C3 derivatives remained always remarkably lower in non-dormant than in dormant seeds. Accordingly, the concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, which increased similarly in the two types of seeds during the first 8 h after the start of inhibition, then reached a plateau in dormant seeds but continued to increase for another 8 h in non-dormant seeds, reaching a maximal value a few hours before the beginning of radicle protrusion. When the dormant seeds were imbibed at the permissive temperature of 10 degrees C, the evolution of all metabolites was slowed down but behaved like that of non-dormant seeds imbibed at 30 degrees C. Experiments in which the dormant seeds were submitted to a jump from 10 degrees C to 30 degrees C and vice versa, always provoked reverse changes in the concentration of the C3 derivatives and of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, the latter being increased in all conditions that allowed germination. Dormant seeds were also allowed to germinate at 30 degrees C by imbibition during 24 h in the presence of 3% ethanol. Again, this permissive treatment caused an arrest in the accumulation of C3 derivatives and an increase in fructose 2,6-bisphosphate. Another, apparently unrelated, biochemical difference between dormant and non-dormant oat seeds was their inorganic pyrophosphate content, which was approximately five-fold higher in non-dormant than in dormant seeds. This difference was observed before and persisted during imbibition as long as measurement could be made and was not affected by the temperature jumps or by ethanol. In contrast to the phosphoric esters under investigation, pyrophosphate was not preferentially located in the embryo.

Purification and properties of spinach leaf phosphofructokinase 2/fructose 2,6-bisphosphatase

Phosphofructokinase 2 was purified from spinach leaves by fractionation with poly(ethylene glycol) and by chromatography on blue Sepharose, anion exchanger Mono-Q and blue Trisacryl. A low-Km fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase copurified with phosphofructokinase 2 and its constitutive subunits could be easily identified by sodium dodecyl sulphate gel electrophoresis thanks to the formation of a [32P]phosphoenzyme intermediate upon short-time incubation in the presence of 1 microM fructose 2,6-[2-32P]bisphosphate. On anion-exchange chromatography, two peaks of phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase were resolved. The first one, called L (light), represented about 10% of the phosphofructokinase 2 activity and was characterized by a phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase activity ratio close to 1, by an Mr of 132,000 as measured by gel filtration, and by a series of subunits of Mr comprised between 44,000 and 70,000. The second and major peak of phosphofructokinase 2, called H (heavy), had a phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase ratio close to 8, an Mr of 390,000 and was made of 90,000-Mr subunits. The H form of phosphofructokinase 2 had a lower Km for fructose 6-phosphate than the L form and a higher Ki for a series of physiological inhibitors. By contrast, the kinetics of fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase was the same for the two forms of the enzyme. Upon incubation in the presence of papain or of a crude spinach leaf extract, the purified H form gave rise to products made of subunits of Mr comprised between 70,000 and 44,000 but also of lower values which maintained their fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase activity. The H and L forms of phosphofructokinase 2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase were also detected in crude homogenates of castor bean endosperm and of Jerusalem artichoke tubers.