Metabolism of Specifically Labeled Glucose, Glucose 1-Phosphate, and Glucose 6-Phosphate via the Oxidative Pentose Phosphate Cycle in a Reconstituted Spinach Chloroplast System in Darkness and in the Light.

Using isolated spinach (hybrid 424) chloroplasts deprived of their envelopes (reconstituted chloroplast system), the metabolism of glucose, glucose 1-phosphate, and glucose 6-phosphate via the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle was analyzed. The activity of oxidative pentose phosphate cycle was monitored by continuous sampling of the CO(2) released during the decarboxylation process of 6-phosphogluconate.The rate of CO(2) released in the dark from [C-1-(14)C]glucose 6-phosphate was 4 to 6 micromoles per milligram chlorophyll per hour. A CO(2) release from the C-6 position of [C-6-(14)C]glucose 6-phosphate was hardly measurable within 60 minutes of incubation. Glucose 1-phosphate was readily converted to glucose 6-phosphate without externally added glucose bisphosphate and was metabolized via the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle. The phosphorylation of glucose to glucose 6-phosphate was mediated by hexokinase present in the reconstituted system. This step was rate-limiting for the over-all reaction of the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle with glucose being the substrate (0.5 micromoles per milligram chlorophyll per hour). Addition of hexokinase increased the rate of CO(2) release to 5 micromoles per milligram chlorophyll per hour.The flow of carbon through the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle was greatly reduced upon the addition of NADPH and ATP. Whereas NADPH inhibited the metabolism of [C-1-(14)C]glucose 6-phosphate via the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle, ATP stimulated carbon flow into the 3-phosphoglycerate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, and bisphosphates pools via the glycolytic pathway mediated by phosphofructokinase. This regulatory phenomenon could also be demonstrated with the reconstituted system undergoing a dark-light-dark transition. Data are presented indicating the conditions under which glucose 6-phosphate or glucose 1-phosphate are metabolized via the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle and the glycolytic pathway.