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Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access originally published online on December 13, 2007
Plant and Cell Physiology 2008 49(1):103-116; doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm172
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Variation in Storage {alpha}-Glucans of the Porphyridiales (Rhodophyta)

Takahiro Shimonaga1, Mai Konishi1, Yasunori Oyama1, Shoko Fujiwara1,*, Aya Satoh2, Naoko Fujita2, Christophe Colleoni3, Alain Buléon4, Jean-Luc Putaux5, Steven G. Ball3, Akiko Yokoyama6, Yoshiaki Hara6, Yasunori Nakamura2 and Mikio Tsuzuki1

1School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392 Japan
2Faculty of Bioresource Sciences, Akita Prefectural University, Akita-City, 010-0195 Japan
3Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, Unité Mixte de Recherche 8576, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Institut Fédératif de Recherche, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq cedex, France
4Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Recherches Agroalimentaires, Rue de la Géraudiére, BP 71627, F-44316 Nantes cedex 3, France
5Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules Végétales (CERMAV-CNRS), BP 53, F-38041 Grenoble cedex 9, France
6Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata-City, 990-8560 Japan

*Corresponding author: E-mail, fujiwara{at}ls.toyaku.ac.jp; Fax, +81-42-676-6721.


  Abstract

Storage glucans were analyzed in the Porphyridiales which include the most primitive and phylogenetically diverged species in the Rhodophyta, to understand early evolution of the glucan structure in the Rhodophyta. The storage glucans of both Galdieria sulphuraria and Cyanidium caldarium consisted of glycogen, while those of Rhodosorus marinus, Porphyridium purpureum, P. sordidum and Rhodella violacea could be defined as semi-amylopectin. X-ray diffraction analysis of the glucans demonstrated variation in the crystalline structure: the patterns in P. purpureum and R. violacea were of A- and B-types, respectively, while {alpha}-glucans of R. marinus and P. sordidum displayed structures with lower crystallinity. Electron microscopic observations indicated that the {alpha}-glucans of P. sordidum consisted of two kinds of granules; a minor component of more dense granules with crystalline leaflets and a major component of softer ones without crystalline structure. Gel permeation chromatography showed that all the species containing the semi-amylopectin-type glucans also contained amylose, although the relative amounts of this fraction were different depending on the species. Our results are consistent with two distinct evolution scenarios defined either by the independent acquisition of semi-crystalline starch-like structures in the different plant lineages or more probably by the loss of starch and reversion to glycogen synthesis in cyanidian algae growing in hot and acid environments.

Keywords: Amylose - Floridean starch - Glycogen - Porphyridiales - Rhodophyta - Semi-amylopectin

Abbreviations: DMSO, dimethylsulfoxide; DP, degree of polymerization; DSC, differential scanning calorimeter; ESM, enriched sea medium; GBSS, granule-bound starch synthase; GWD, {alpha}-glucan, water dikinase; ISA, isoamylase; {lambda}max, maximal absorbance wavelength of glucan–iodine complex; LMWC, low molecular weight carbohydrate; SAXS, small angle X-ray scattering; SEM, scanning electron microscopy; TEM, transmission electron microscopy; WAXS, wide angle X-ray scattering.

(Received November 10, 2007; Accepted December 4, 2007)
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