Photosynthetic Carbon Fixation in Guard Cell Protoplasts of Vicia faba L. : Evidence from Radiolabel Experiments

Abstract

Photosynthetic carbon fixation in guard cells was reexamined in experiments with highly purified guard cell protoplasts from Vicia faba L. irradiated with red light. The fate of (14)CO(2) (4.8 microcuries of NaHCO(3); final concentration: 100 micromolar) supplied to these preparations was investigated with two-dimensional paper, and thin layer chromatography. Rates of CO(2) fixation were 5- to 8-fold higher in the light than in darkness. Separation of acid-stable products into water-insoluble, neutral, and anionic fractions showed that more radioactivity was incorporated into the neutral fraction in the light than in the dark. In the dark, malate and aspartate comprised 90% of the radiolabel found in the anionic fraction, whereas in the light, radioactivity was also found in 3-phosphoglyceric acid (PGA), sugar monophosphates, sugar diphosphates, and triose phosphates. Phosphorylated compounds contained up to 60% of the label in the light-treated anionic fraction. Phosphatase treatment and rechromatography of labeled sugar diphosphate showed the presence of ribulose, a specific metabolite of the photosynthetic carbon reduction pathway (PCRP). In time-course experiments, labeled PGA was detected within 5 seconds. With time, the percentage of label in PGA decreased and that in sugar monophosphate increased. We conclude that PGA is a primary carboxylation product of the PCRP in guard cells and that the activity of the PCRP, and phosphoenolpyruvate-carboxylase is metabolically regulated.