Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A sucrose-synthase gene of Vicia faba L.: Expression pattern in developing seeds in relation to starch synthesis and metabolic regulation

  • Published:
Planta Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Copy-DNA clones encoding a single class of sucrose-synthase (SUCS; EC 2.4.1.13) subunit have been isolated and sequenced from a Vicia faba L. seed cotyledonary library. Southern analyses indicated the existence of only one gene. Transcript levels determined by Northern blot hybridisation steadily increased until the middle of development [25–35 days after flowering (DAF)] and declined thereafter. Sucrose levels approximately paralleled levels of SUCS mRNA. The activity of SUCS increased with decreasing fructose and glucose concentrations and peaked about 10 d later than mRNA levels. In-vitro culture experiments demonstrated that increasing the sucrose concentration leads to increased levels of SUCS mRNA. The SUCS mRNA was also synthesised in seed-coat tissue, but in lower amounts than in cotyledons and with a different developmental profile. The early peak level of SUCS mRNA (20 DAF) in seed coats coincided with the peak in the amount of sucrose and with a peak of transiently synthesised starch.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

bp:

basepairs

DAF:

days after flowering

kb:

kilobase

SUCS:

sucrose synthase

References

  • Aral, M., Mori, H., Imaseki, H. (1992) Expression of the gene for sucrose synthase during growth of mung bean seedlings. Plant Cell Physiol. 33, 503–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergmeyer, H.U., Bernt, E., Schmid, F., Stark, H. (1974) Methods of enzymatic analysis, 2nd edn. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim

    Google Scholar 

  • Bressan, G., Stanley, K. (1987) pUEX, a bacterial expression vector related to pEX with universal host specifity. Nucl. Acids Res. 15, 10056

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y.C., Chourey, P.S. (1989) Spatial and temporal expression of two sucrose synthase genes in maize: immunohistological evidence. Theor. Appl. Genet. 78, 553–559

    Google Scholar 

  • Chopra, S., Delfavero, J., Dolferus, R., Jacobs, M. (1992) Sucrose synthase of Arabidopsis — genomic cloning and sequence characterization. Plant Mol. Biol. 18, 131–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Chourey, P.S., Nelson, O.E. (1976) The enzymatic deficiency conditioned by the shrunken-1 mutations in maize. Biochem. Genet. 14, 1041–1055

    Google Scholar 

  • Chourey, P.S., DeRobertis, G.A., Still, P.E. (1988) Altered tissue specificity of the revertant shrunken allele upon Dissociation (DS) excision is associated with loss of expression and molecular rearrangement at the corresponding non-allelic isozyme locus in maize. Mol. Gen. Genet. 214, 300–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Chourey, P.S., Chen, Y.-C, Miller, M.E. (1991a) Early cell degeneration in developing endosperm is unique to the shrunken mutation in maize. Maydica 36, 141–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Chourey, P.S., Taliercio, E.W., Kane, E.J. (1991b) Tissue-specific expression and anaerobically induced posttranscriptional modulation of sucrose synthase genes in Sorghum bicolor M. Plant Physiol. 96, 485–490

    Google Scholar 

  • Church, G.M., Gilbert, W. (1984) Genomic sequencing. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 1991–1995

    Google Scholar 

  • de Fekete, M.A.R. (1969) Zum Stoffwechsel der Stärke. I. Die Umwandlung von Saccharose in Stärke in den Kotyledonen von Vicia faba. Planta 87, 311–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Dellaporta, S.L., Woods, J., Kicks, J.B. (1983) A plant DNA minipreparation: Version II. Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 1, 19–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Delmer, D.P. (1972) The purification and properties of sucrose synthetase from etiolated Phaseolus aureus seedlings. J. Biol. Chem. 247, 3822–3828

    Google Scholar 

  • Doehlert, D.C. (1987) Substrate inhibition of maize endosperm sucrose synthase by fructose and its interaction with glucose inhibition. Plant Sci. 52, 153–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Doehlert, D.C., Chourey, P.S. (1991) Possible roles of sucrose synthase in sink function. In: Phloem transport and assimalate compartmentation, pp. 187–195, Bonnemain, J.L., Delrot, S., Lucas, W.J., Dainty, J., eds. Quest Editions, Nantes

  • Edwards, J., ap Rees, T. (1986a) Sucrose partitioning in developing embryos of round and wrinkled varieties of Pisum sativum. Phytochemistry 25, 2027–2032

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J., ap Rees, T. (1986b) Metabolism of UDP-glucose by developing embryos of round and wrinkled varieties of Pisum sativum. Photochemistry 25, 2033–2039

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrar, J.F. (1991) Starch turnover: its role in source-sink relations and a comparison with the role of sucrose. In: Recent advances in phloem transport and assimilate compartmentation, pp. 213–223, Bonnemain, J.L., Delrot, S., Lucas, E.J., Dainty, J., eds. Ouest Editions, Nantes

  • Feinberg, A.P., Vogelstein, B. (1983) A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal. Biochem. 132, 6–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendrix, L.D. (1990) Carbohydrates and carbohydrate enzymes in developing cotton ovules. Physiol. Plant. 78, 85–92

    Google Scholar 

  • John, M.E. (1992) An efficient method for isolation of RNA and DNA from plants containing polyphenolics. Nucl. Acids Res. 20, 2381

    Google Scholar 

  • Karrer, E.E., Rodriguez, R.L. (1992) Metabolic regulation of rice alpha-amylase and sucrose synthase genes in planta. Plant J. 2, 517–523

    Google Scholar 

  • Kipps, A., Boulter, D. (1973) Carbon transfer from the bloom node leaf of the fruit of Vicia faba L. New Phytol. 72, 1293–1297

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch, K.E., Nolte, K.D., Duke, E.R., McCarty, D.R., Avigne, W.T. (1992) Sugar levels modulate differential expression of maize sucrose synthase genes. Plant Cell 4, 59–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Manteuffel, R., Müntz, K., Püchel, M., Scholz, G. (1976) Phasedependent changes of DNA, RNA and protein accumulation during the ontogenesis of broad bean seeds (Vicia faba L., var. minor). Biochem. Physiol. Pflanzen 169, 595–605

    Google Scholar 

  • Marana, C, Garcia-Olmedo, F., Carbonero, P. (1990) Different ex pression of two types of sucrose synthase-encoding genes in wheat in response to anaerobiosis, cold shock and light. Gene 88, 167–172

    Google Scholar 

  • McElfresh, K.C., Chourey, P.S. (1988) Anaerobiosis induces transcription but not translation of sucrose synthase in maize. Plant Physiol. 87, 542–546

    Google Scholar 

  • Millerd, A., Spencer, D., Dudman, W.F., Stiller, M. (1975) Growth of immature pea cotyledons in culture. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 2, 51–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Morell, M., Copeland, L. (1985) Sucrose synthase of soybean nodules. Plant Physiol. 78, 149–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, D.R. (1987) Nutritive role of seed coats in developing legume seeds. Am. J. Bot. 74, 1122–1137

    Google Scholar 

  • Pich, U., Schubert, I. (1993) Polymorphism of legumin genes in inbred lines of Vicia faba. Biol. Zentralbl., in press

  • Püchel, M., Müntz, K., Parthier, B., Aurich, O., Bassüner, R., Manteuffel, R., Schmidt, P. (1979) RNA metabolism and membrane-bound polysemes in relation to globulin biosynthesis in cotyledons of developing field beans (Vicia faba L.). Eur. J. Biochem. 96, 321–329

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, H.A., Davies, H.V. (1992) Purification and characterization of sucrose synthase from cotyledons of Vicia faba L. Plant Physiol. 100, 1008–1013

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowland, L.J., Chourey, P.S. (1990) In situ hybridization analysis of sucrose synthase expression in developing kernels of maize. Maydica 35, 373–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Salanoubat, M., Belliard, G. (1989) The steady-state level of potato sucrose synthase mRNA is dependent on wounding, anaerobiosis and sucrose concentration. Gene 84, 181–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A.M., Denyer, K. (1992) Starch synthesis in developing pea embryos. New Phytol. 122, 21–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A.M., Martin, C. (1993) Starch biosynthesis and the potential for its manipulation. In: Biosynthesis and manipulation of plant products, pp. 1–54, Grierson, D., ed. Chapman and Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, J.D., Loboda, T, Sung, S.J.S., Black, C.C. (1992) Sucrose synthase in wild tomato, Lycopersicon chmielewskii, and tomato fruit sink strength. Plant Physiol. 98, 1163–1169

    Google Scholar 

  • Sung, S.-J.S., Xu, D.-P., Black, C.C. (1989) Identfication of actively filling sucrose sinks. Plant Physiol. 89, 1117–1121

    Google Scholar 

  • Taliercio, E.W., Chourey, P.S. (1989) Post-transcriptional control of sucrose synthase expression in anaerobic seedlings of maize. Plant Physiol. 90, 1359–1364

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, A.-Y., Yu, W.-P., Juang, R.-H., Huang, J.-W., Sung, H.-Y, Su, J.-C. (1992) Presence of three rice sucrose synthase genes as revealed by cloning and sequencing of cDNA. Plant Mol. Biol. 18, 1191–1194

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, M.-B., Boulter, D., Gatehouse, J.A. (1992) A complete sequence of the rice sucrose synthase-1 (RSs1) gene. Plant Mol. Biol. 19, 881–885

    Google Scholar 

  • Werr, W., Frommer, W.B., Maas, C., Starlinger, P. (1985) Structure of the sucrose synthase gene on chromosome 9 of Zea mays L. EMBO J. 4, 1373–1380

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J.H.H., Winters, A.L., Farrar, J.F. (1992) Sucrose: a novel plant growth regulator. In: Molecular, biochemical and physiological aspects of plant respiration, pp. 1–7, Lambers, H., van der Plas, L.H.W., eds. SPB Academic Publ., The Hague, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Wobus, U., Bäumlein, H., Bassüner, R., Heim, U., Jung, R., Müntz, K., Püchel, M., Saalbach, G., Weschke, W. (1986) Characteristics of two types of legumin genes in the field bean genome as revealed by cDNA analysis. FEBS Lett. 201, 74–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolosuik, R.A., Pontis, H.G. (1974) Studies on sucrose synthase. Kinetic mechanism. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 165, 140–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolswinkel, P. (1992) Transport of nutrients into developing seeds: a review of physiological mechanisms. Seed Sci. Res. 2, 59–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, W.P., Wang, A.Y, Juang, R.H., Sung, H.Y., Su, J.C. (1992) Isolation and sequences of rice sucrose synthase cDNA and genomic DNA. Plant Mol. Biol. 18, 139–142

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Corrensstrasse 3, D-06466, Gatersleben, Germany

    Ute Heim, Hans Weber, Helmut Bäumlein & Ulrich Wobus

Authors
  1. Ute Heim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hans Weber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Helmut Bäumlein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ulrich Wobus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

This work was supported by the Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie BCT 0389 ‘Molekular- und Zellbiologie von höheren Pflanzen und Pilzen’. U.W. acknowledges additional support by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie. The careful technical assistance by Elsa Fessel is gratefully acknowledged. We thank A. Perlick and A. Pühler (Lehrstuhl für Genetik, Univ. Bielefeld, FRG) for the kind gift of a nodule-derived V. faba SUCS cDNA clone and for making their results available to us prior to publication.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Heim, U., Weber, H., Bäumlein, H. et al. A sucrose-synthase gene of Vicia faba L.: Expression pattern in developing seeds in relation to starch synthesis and metabolic regulation. Planta 191, 394–401 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195698

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195698

Key words

Search

Navigation