Studies on the greening of cultured soybean andRutacells

Abstract

Investigations were performed to determine some properties related to photosynthesis in the cultured green cells of soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) and Ruta (Ruta graveolens L.). The results obtained are summarized as follows. 1) The fixation activity of CO₂ was determined by the incorpora tion of ¹⁴C from Na₂ ¹⁴CO₃. There was no great difference in the amount of photosynthetic CO₂ fixation, per chlorophyll unit, between the cultured green cells of Ruta and soybean leaves. In the cultured green cells of soybean also, the CO₂ fixation activity was found to be significant, although the activity was relatively lower than that in soybean leaves. 2) The porphyrin synthesis ability of the cultured green cells was examined in a cell free system, and two porphyrins, uroporphyrin and coproporphyrin, which might have been converted from the added δ-aminolevurinic acid, were detected by thin-layer chromatography. 3) The existence of Fraction I protein and its function were confirmed with analytical ultracentrifugation and by an assay of the ribulose-1,5-diphosphate carboxylase activity.