PLASTIDIC ISOPRENOID SYNTHESIS DURING CHLOROPLAST DEVELOPMENT - CHANGE FROM METABOLIC AUTONOMY TO A DIVISION-OF-LABOR STAGE

The chloroplast isoprenoid synthesis of very young leaves is supplied by the plastidic CO2 → pyruvate → acetyl-coenzyme A (C3 → C2) metabolism (D Schulze-Siebert, G Schultz [1987] Plant Physiol 84: 1233-1237) and occurs via the plastidic mevalonate pathway. The plastidic C3 → C2 metabolism and/or plastidic mevalonate pathway of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings changes from maximal activity at the leaf base (containing developing chloroplasts with incomplete thylakoid stacking but a considerable rate of photosynthetic CO2-fixation) almost to ineffectivity at the leaf tip (containing mature chloroplasts with maximal photosynthetic activity). The ability to import isopentenyl diphosphate from the extraplastidic space gradually increases to substitute for the loss of endogenous intermediate supply for chloroplast isoprenoid synthesis (change from autonomie to division-of-labor stage). Fatty acid synthesis from NaH14CO3 decreases in the same manner as shown for leaf sections and chloroplasts isolated from these. Evidence has been obtained for a drastic decrease of pyruvate decarboxylase-dehydrogenase activity during chloroplast development compared with other anabolic chloroplast pathways (synthesis of aromatic amino acid and branched chain amino acids). The noncompetition of pyruvate and acetate in isotopic dilution studies indicates that both a pyruvate-derived and an acetate-derived compound are simultaneously needed to form introductory intermediates of the mevalonate pathway, presumably acetoacetyl-coenzyme A.