In Situ C4 Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase Activity and Kinetic Properties in Isolated Digitaria Sanguinalis Mesophyll Cells

Isolated mesophyll cells from darkened leaves of the C4 plant Digitaria sanguinalis keep functional plasmodesmata that allow the free exchange of low molecular mass compounds with the surrounding medium. This cell suspension system has been used to measure C4 PEPC activity in situ using a spectrophotometric assay. Compared to the extracted enzyme assayed in vitro, the essentially non-phosphorylated ‘in-cell’ C4 PEPC showed altered functional and regulatory properties. While the S0.5 for PEP at pH 7.3 was only modestly changed (0.4–0.6 mM), the response to pH was shifted towards the acidic range, being close to the maximal value at pH 7.3. Using expected physiological concentrations of the metabolites, at pH 7.3, the IC50 for malate showed a five-fold increase, from 1.5 to 8 mM, and was increased further to 22 mM in the presence of the allosteric activator glucose-6-phosphate (4 mM). Thiol compounds like DTT, mercaptoethanol and reduced glutathione weakened the in-situ sensitivity of C4 PEPC to malate. However, none of them had any effect on this process in vitro. This was not due to thioredoxin-mediated or phoshorylation-dependent processes. Since glutathione is a physiological compound that is present mostly in the reduced state in the cell cytosol, a possible contribution of this thiol to the protection of the enzyme against malate in situ is proposed.