Biochemical changes during sucrose deprivation in higher plant cells. Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance studies.

An experimental arrangement was described that enables nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of compressed plant cells to be recorded while circulating a medium through the sample. The system provided a convenient arrangement for monitoring by 31P NMR the behavior of plant cells over a long period of time under different conditions such as sucrose starvation. Perfusion of compressed sycamore cells with sucrose-free culture medium triggered a progressive decrease in the glucose 6-P and uridine-5'-diphosphate-alpha-D-glucose resonances over 30 h. When almost all the intracellular carbohydrate pool had disappeared the nucleotide triphosphate resonances decline progressively. These changes were accompanied by a Pi accumulation in the vacuole and a phosphorylcholine (P-choline) accumulation in the cytoplasm. The very long lag phase observed for ATP and P-choline evolution was comparable with that observed for the progressive intracellular digestion of cytoplasmic constituents (Journet, E., Bligny, R. and Douce, R. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 3193-3199). Addition of sucrose in the circulating system after a long period of sucrose starvation led to a disappearance of the cytoplasmic Pi resonance and a marked increase in that of glucose 6-P. Under these conditions the vacuolar Pi pool did not fluctuate to buffer the Pi in the cytoplasm. The results suggest that Pi which has been sequestered in the vacuole during the course of sucrose starvation is not restored to the cytoplasm for rapid metabolic processes. Furthermore, the presence of P-choline in plant cells in large excess should be considered as a good marker of membrane utilization after a long period of sucrose starvation and is very likely related to stress.