N-ammonia assimilation, 2-oxoglutarate transport, and glutamate export in spinach chloroplasts in the presence of dicarboxylates in the light.

The direct incorporation of (15)NH(4)Cl into amino acids in illuminated spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts in the presence of 2-oxoglutarate plus malate was determined. The amido-N of glutamine was the most highly labeled N-atom during (15)NH(4) assimilation in the presence of malate. In 4 minutes the (15)N-label of the amido-N of glutamine was 37% enriched. In contrast, values obtained for both the N-atom of glutamate and the amino-N of glutamine were only about 20% while that of the N-atom of aspartate was only 3%. The addition of malate during the assimilation of (15)NH(4)Cl and Na(15)NO(2) greatly increased the (15)N-label into glutamine but did not qualitatively change the order of the incorporation of (15)N-label into all the amino acids examined. This evidence indicates the direct involvement of the glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase pathway for ammonia and nitrite assimilation in isolated chloroplasts. The addition of malate or succinate during ammonia assimilation also led to more than 3-fold increase in [(14)C]2-oxoglutarate transport into the chloroplast as well as an increase in the export of [(14)C]glutamate out of the chloroplast. Little [(14)C]glutamine was detected in the medium of the chloroplast preparations. The stimulation of (15)N-incorporation and [(14)C]glutamate export by malate could be directly attributed to the increase in 2-oxoglutarate transport activity (via the 2-oxoglutarate translocator) observed in the presence of exogenous malate.