Sources of sulfur in the thioglucosides of various higher plants

L-Methionine-35S and DL-cysteine-35S were good sources of sulfur for the biosynthesis of sinigrin in Armoracia lapathifolia Gilib. and were incorporated with approximately the same efficiency. Homomethionine-35S was a slightly poorer source of sulfur than methionine, while taurine-35S was a very poor source. When homomethionine, methionine, and cysteine were employed as sources of sulfur, the distribution of radioactivity between the two sulfur atoms in sinigrin was approximately 80% in the isothiocyanate moiety and 10–15% in the sulfate moiety. When taurine was employed, the distribution was reversed. 1-Thio-β-D-glucose (1-thioglucose) also was a poor source of sulfur for sinigrin. The carbon skeleton of 1-thioglucose was only slightly incorporated into this thioglucoside. The experiments indicated that 1-thioglucose was not a direct precursor of the 1-thioglucosyl residue of sinigrin.The administration of doubly labeled methionine-2-14C-35S clearly demonstrated that this amino acid was not incorporated ...