Evidence for metabolic turnover of monoterpenes in peppermint.

Two types of experimental evidence are presented which suggest that the monoterpenes of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) are subject to metabolic turnover. In kinetic studies with (14)CO(2), peppermint cuttings rapidly incorporate label into the monoterpenes and then lose most of the label from the monoterpenes, without corresponding changes in the amount of monoterpenes present. When peppermint plants are grown in a controlled environment (16-hr photoperiod, 24 degrees day, 8 degrees night) and analyzed at intervals leaf pair by leaf pair, there is a steady increase in monoterpenes until the time of floral initiation, followed by a rapid decrease. It is suggested that monoterpenes may serve as substrates for energy metabolism in the secretory cells after other stored substrates have been depleted.