STUDIES ON THE CYTOCHROME OXIDASE AND OXIDATION PATHWAY IN UREDOSPORES OF WHEAT STEM RUST

Abstract

Electron transport to oxygen in a particulate fraction from uredospores of Puccinia graminis var. tritici occurs through a series of carriers similar to those of other fungi and higher plants.Experiments with various enzyme inhibitors and measurements of the oxygen affinity of respiration have shown that cytochrome oxidase mediates the final step in the sequence of electron transfer. The enzyme was localized in a fraction sedimenting at 20,000 g and was typically inhibited by cyanide, azide, and CO-dark, the latter inhibition being light-reversible. Other enzymes present were succinic-cytochrome c reductase, DPNH- and TPNH-cytochrome c reductase, dye reductase, malic dehydrogenase, isocitric dehydrogenase, and glycerol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase. Particulates failed to oxidize DPNH unless an electron acceptor was added. An increase in the activity of several of the respiratory enzymes was noted upon spore germination.Succinic-cytochrome c reductase was only partially sensitive to Antimycin A, HOQNO, and the naphthoquinone, SN 5949. These compounds markedly inhibited a labile portion of the DPNH-cytochrome c reductase activity but had little effect on the stable activity remaining in aged particles. Menadione, but not vitamin K₁, stimulated electron transfer. Antimycin A and SN 5949 virtually blocked spore respiration suggesting a "Slater-type" factor in the intact pathway of oxidation.