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Plant and Cell Physiology, 1995, Vol. 36, No. 1 157-164
© 1995

Enzymatic Conversion of Volatile Metabolites in Dry Seeds during Storage

Ming Zhang, Yasuo Nakamaru, Sachiko Tsuda, Tazuko Nagashima and Yohji Esashi

Botanical Garden, Faculty of Science, North Campus of Tohoku University Kawauchi, Aobaku, Sendai, 980-77 Japan

Dry seeds can transform volatile metabolites via enzymes pre-existing in them. The interconversion between acetaldehyde and ethanol occurred when they were applied gaseously to seeds of rice, lettuce, pea, cocklebur during storage at different relative humidities (RH) at either 23°C or –3.5°C. Interconversions between the compounds decreased with decreasing RH from 75% to 12% regardless of seed species and storage temperature, but it was still detectable even at 12% RH at –3.5°C. However, the conversion from acetaldehyde to ethanol did not occur when seeds were killed by heating prior to storage. 2-Methoxyethanol, a competitive inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) (EC 1.1.1.1 [EC] ), suppressed the transformation from ethanol to acetaldehyde in lettuce seeds. Therefore, ADH pre-existing in dry seeds may be involved in the interconversion between ethanol and acetaldehyde in dry seeds. Propanal, also a substrate of ADH, could be transformed to propanol during storage. However, methanol, which is not a substrate of this enzyme, was hardly converted to formaldehyde. Ethylacetate, applied to seeds during storage, was hydrolyzed by both lettuce and rice seeds, and the amount of hydrolysis increased with increasing RH. Similarly, other carboxylic esters, such as methylacetate, ethylformate and ethylpropionate, could be hydrolyzed by rice, pea, and lettuce seeds. Little hydrolysis of ethylacetate occurred in the seeds killed by heating before storage, suggesting that ethylacetate may be hydrolyzed by carboxylic-ester hydrolase (EC 3.1.1.1 [EC] ). On the other hand, the production of ethylacetate through esterification was demonstrated by addition of gaseous acetate and ethanol in lettuce seeds, which occurred more greatly at 12% RH than at 75% RH. These findings were discussed in relation to the mechanism of seed aging.

(Received September 3, 1994; Accepted November 14, 1994)
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