Metabolic Conversion of Amino Acids Loaded in the Vacuole of Chara australis Internodal Cells

Vacuoles of internodal cells of Chara australis (or Chara corallina) were loaded with a 10 millimolar amount of various amino acids by a perfusion method and incubated under continuous light. After 20 to 24 hours, the cell sap was collected, and free amino acids in it and the rest of the cell (cytoplasm) were analyzed. The only amino acid metabolized completely was alanine. About 40 to 80% of the aspartic acid, glutamine, serine, and glycine were metabolized, whereas less than 30% of the threonine, asparagine, isoasparagine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, lysine, and arginine were metabolized. The figure for glutamic acid fluctuated between 10 and 100%. The main metabolites of alanine were glutamine, glycine and ammonia, which accumulated in the vacuole. Alanine utilization was not affected by l-methionine-d,l-sulfoximine or azaserine, but was strongly inhibited by aminooxyacetate. The cell extract contained enough alanine aminotransferase activity to account for the rate of alanine metabolism.