Nature of manganese complexes in manganese accumulator plant ‐ Acanthopanax sciadophylloides

Abstract The chemical nature of manganese complexes was investigated in a Mn‐hyperaccumulator plant, Acanthopanax sciadophylloides growing under natural conditions in the forest of central Japan. The concentration of Mn in various cell fractions was in the order: supernatant > cell wall and cell debris > mitochondria > ribosome > chloroplast. Supernatant (105000 x g) was subjected to gel filteration on sephadex G‐10 column. Molecular weight of the major peak of Mn was estimated to be approximately 145 indicating that it was not a protein complex. Mn rich fractions of the major peak were analyzed for organic acids by the use of high performance liquid chromatography. Oxalic acid was the only organic acid detected in these fractions. Paper electrophoresis of the Mn rich fractions of the major peak as well as that of water extracts of the leaves was performed in two ways: 1) paper was treated with pyridineacetic acid buffer (pH 6.5) prior to the application of samples 2) paper was treated with different conc...