Chloroplast and extrachloroplastic starch-degrading enzymes in Pisum sativum L.

Starch-degrading enzymes in isolated pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Laxton's Progress No. 9) chloroplasts were investigated and compared with those in crude pea leaf and stipule preparations. End-product analysis of amylopectin degradation by chloroplast and crude extracts indicates that maltose is the major product of both. Two multiforms of β-amylase (EC 3.2.1.2) were detected in pea chloroplasts using an electrophoretic transfer technique. A starch-debranching enzyme (EC 3.2.1.10) was detected in chloroplasts by electrophoretic transfer and the degradation of pullulan. A different multiform of debranching enzyme was found in crude preparations. α-Amylases (EC 3.2.1.1) were detected by electrophoretic transfer through gels containing starch and starch azure, and by change in viscosity of a starch solution, but were only found in crude preparations indicating an extrachloroplastic location. Incubation of maltotriose with chloroplast extracts gave high levels of glucose production and formation of oligosaccharides with degrees of polymerization larger than that of maltotriose indicating transglycosylase (EC 2.4.1.25) activity. Neither α-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20) nor maltose-phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.1) activity were found in either chloroplast or crude preparations, whereas starch-phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.1) activity was in both. The possible role of these enzymes in starch degradation by pea chloroplasts is discussed.