The Glycolate Pathway and Photosynthetic Competence in Euglena

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The development of glycolate pathway enzymes has been determined in relation to photosynthetic competence during the regreening of Euglena cultures. Phosphoglycolate phosphatase and glycolate dehydrogenase rapidly reached maximal levels of activity but the complete development of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase and concomitant photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation were not attained until 72 hours of illumination. Specific inhibitors of protein synthesis showed that the formation of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase in both division-synchronized and regreening cultures was prevented by both cycloheximide and d-threo-chloramphenicol, whereas phosphoglycolate phosphatase formation was only inhibited by d-threo-chloramphenicol but not by l-threo-chloramphenicol or cycloheximide. Since cycloheximide prevented ribulose diphosphate carboxylase synthesis and photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation without affecting phosphoglycolate phosphatase synthesis during regreening, it was concluded that photosynthetic competence was not necessary for the development of the glycolate pathway enzymes. The inhibition of phosphoglycolate phosphatase synthesis by d-threo-chloramphenicol but not by l-threo-chloramphenicol or cycloheximide shows that the enzyme was synthesized exclusively on chloroplast ribosomes, whereas protein synthesis on both chloroplast and cytoplasmic ribosomes was required for the formation of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase. Although light is required for the development of both Calvin cycle and glycolate pathway enzymes during regreening it is concluded that the two pathways are not coordinately regulated.

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