TRANSAMINATION REACTIONS IN PLANTS

Abstract

The transamination reaction was first demonstrated by Braunstein and Kritzmann (l), and they (2) claimed that some fourteen amino acids would serve as amino donors to oc-ketoglutaric acid or oxalacetic acid.Kritzmann (3) obtained transamination with extracts of ground pea seedlings, and other workers (4, 5) observed limited transamination in plants.The first highly active plant transamination system was prepared by Albaum and Cohen (6) from oat seedlings and was shown to be active with cu-ketoglutaric acid and aspartic acid, alanine, or cysteic acid.Leonard and Burris (7) were able to demonstrate the glutamic-oxalacetic acid system in extracts from a variety of plant species and tissues and the alaninecr-ketoglutaric acid system in wheat germ.In recent years (8-11) it has become increasingly apparent that the transamination reaction in animal tissues and bacteria has a wide scope both in terms of amino group donors and amino group acceptors.Stumpf (12) employed ascending chromatography to detect the formation of glutamate,