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Plant and Cell Physiology, 2001, Vol. 42, No. 12 1311-1320
© 2001 Oxford University Press

Reappraisal of the Currently Prevailing Model of Starch Biosynthesis in Photosynthetic Tissues: A Proposal Involving the Cytosolic Production of ADP-Glucose by Sucrose Synthase and Occurrence of Cyclic Turnover of Starch in the Chloroplast

Edurne Baroja-Fernández, Francisco José Muñoz, Takashi Akazawa1 and Javier Pozueta-Romero2

Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Pública de Navarra/Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Ctra. de Mutilva s/n, Mutilva Baja, 31192 Navarra, Spain

A vast amount of information has accumulated which supports the view that sucrose and starch are end-products of two segregated, yet highly interconnected, gluconeogenic pathways taking place in the cytosol and chloroplast, respectively. However, several lines of experimental evidences indicate that, essentially identical to the case of heterotrophic tissues, starch formation in the photosynthetic tissues may involve the direct import to the chloroplast of cytosolic hexose (C6) units derived from the sucrose breakdown. This evidence is consistent with the idea that synthesis of a sizable pool of ADP-glucose takes place in the cytosol by means of sucrose synthase whereas, basically in agreement with recent investigations dealing with glycogen biosynthesis in bacteria and animals, chloroplastic phosphoglucomutase and ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase are most likely playing a role in channelling of glucose units derived from the starch breakdown in the chloroplast, thus making up a regulatory starch turnover cycle.

According to this new view, we propose that starch production in the chloroplast is the result of a flexible and dynamic mechanism wherein both catabolic and anabolic reactions take place simultaneously in a highly interactive manner. Starch is seen as an intermediate component of a cyclic gluconeogenic pathway which, in turn, is connected with other metabolic pathways. The possible importance of metabolic turnover as a way to control starch production is exemplified with the recently discovered ADP-glucose pyrophosphatase, an enzyme likely having a dual role in controlling levels of ADP-glucose linked to starch biosynthesis and diverting carbon flow towards other metabolic pathways.

1 Present address: 2-278 Kamenoi, Meito-ku, Nagoya, 465-0094 Japan.

2 Corresponding author: E-mail, javier.pozueta@unavarra.es; Fax, +34-94-823-2191.


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