JXB Advance Access published online on April 9, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/ern050
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RESEARCH PAPER |
Malate metabolism in Hoya carnosa mitochondria and its role in photosynthesis during CAM phase III
Faculty of Agriculture, Saga University, 1 Honjo-machi, Saga 840-8502, Japan
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nosea{at}cc.saga-u.ac.jp
This study investigated the respiratory properties and the role of the mitochondria isolated from one phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK)-CAM plant, Hoya carnosa, in malate metabolism during CAM phase III. The mitochondria showed high malate dehydrogenase (mMDH) and aspartate amino transferase (mAST), and a significant amount of malic enzyme (mME) activities. H. carnosa readily oxidized malate via mME and mMDH in the presence of some cofactors such as thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), coenzyme A (CoA) or NAD+. A high respiration rate of malate oxidation was observed at pH 7.2 with NAD+ and glutamate (Glu). Providing AST and Glu simultaneously into the respiratory medium strongly increased the rates of malate oxidation, and this oxidation was gradually inhibited by an inhibitor of 
-ketoglutarate (-KG) carrier, pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP). The mitochondria readily oxidized aspartate (Asp) or -KG individually with low rates, while they oxidized Asp and -KG simultaneously with high rates, and this simultaneous oxidation was also inhibited by PLP. By measuring the capacity of the mitochondrial shuttle, it was found that the OAA produced via mMDH seemed not to be transported outside the mitochondria, but mAST interconverted OAA and Glu to Asp and -KG, respectively, and exported them out via a malate-aspartate (malate-Asp) shuttle. The data in this research suggest that during phase III of PCK-CAM, H. carnosa mitochondria oxidized malate via both mME and the mMDH systems depending on metabolic requirements. However, malate metabolism by the mMDH system did not operate via a malate-OAA shuttle similarly to Ananas comosus mitochondria, but it operated via a malate-Asp shuttle similarly to Kalanchoë daigremontiana mitochondria.
Key words: H. carnosa mitochondria, malate-Asp shuttle, malate metabolism, mMDH, mME, starch PCK-CAM
Received 4 November 2007; Revised 4 January 2008 Accepted 1 February 2008