Metabolic interplay between cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and mitochondrial alternative oxidase in thermogenic skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus renifolius. (1st November 2016) - Sayed, Md. Abu
ABSTRACT: Skunk cabbage ( Symplocarpus renifolius ) blooms in early spring and its inflorescence, referred to as the spadix, can produce enough heat to melt snow. Here, we investigated glycolytic carbon flow at the PEP branch-point in thermogenic spadices. Our analyses revealed that petals and pistils in thermogenic florets exhibited higher expression of SrPEPC and SrAOX transcripts than those of SrPK, SrPEPCK, and SrPEPtase . Moreover, enzymatic analyses showed high activities of PEPC in the extracts from thermogenic florets. Finally, mitochondria from thermogenic florets showed low respiratory activities when pyruvate was used as a substrate, although a significant malate-mediated cyanide-insensitive respiration was observed. Collectively, these results suggest that PEP metabolism, primarily catabolized by PEPC, plays a critical role in thermogenesis in S. renifolius .