Metabolism of amino acids in germinating yellow lupine seeds .1. The decomposition of C-14-aspartate and C-14-glutamate during the inhibition

Soluble protein fraction, isolated from axes of lupine (Lupinus luteus L.) seeds at early stages of imbibition, exhibited the capacity for decomposing (UC)-C-14-labelled L-aspartate to (CO2)-C-14 in the presence of oxoacids. It is postulated that aspartate may serve as substrate for the ATP synthesis pathway. On the other hand, (UC)-C-14-glulamate was decomposed by the mitochondrial fraction through catabolic action of glutamate dehydrogenase (EC 1.4. 1.2-4). Quantitatively, glutamate oxidation was much more intense than aspartate breakdown, but it rather took place in later stages of seed inbibition and germination.