Physiology and biosynthesis of lychnose in Cerastium arvense.

The synthesis and accumulation of lychnose and isolychnose in leaves of Cerastium arvense during late fall and winter were shown to be controlled mainly by the temperature regime, while the photoperiodic regime had only a quantitative effect. Labelled lychnose and isolychnose were formed from [(14)C]raffinose in a cell-free enzyme preparation of leaves of Cerastium arvense in accordance with the equation: raffinose+raffinose →(iso-)lychnose+sucrose.