Photosynthetic carbon fixation characteristics of fruiting structures of Brassica campestris L.

Activites of key enzymes of the Calvin cycle and C4 metabolism, rates of CO2 fixation, and the initial products of photosynthetic 14CO2 fixation were determined in the podwall, seed coat (fruiting structures), and the subtending leaf (leaf below a receme) of Brassica campestris L. cv 'Toria.' Compared to activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase and other Calvin cycle enzymes, e.g. NADP-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase and ribulose-5-phosphate kinase, the activities of phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase and other enzymes of C4 metabolism, viz. NADP-malate dehydrogenase, NADP-malic enzyme, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, were generally much higher in seed than in podwall and leaf. Podwall and leaf were comparable to each other. Pulse-chase experiments showed that in seed the major product of 14CO2 assimilation was malate (in short time), whereas in podwall and leaf, the label initially appeared in 3-PGA. With time, the label moved to sucrose. In contrast to legumes, Brassica pods were able to fix net CO2 during light. However, respiratory losses were very high during the dark period