The nature of the effect of ammonium sulphate on the biosynthesis of ascorbic acid in plants

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Abstract
The conversion ratio of (C14) glucose into ascorbic acid is of the same order in Phaseolus seeds as that established by earlier workers for rats. Ammoniun sulphate inhibits the conversion of uniformly labelled (C14) glucose into ascorbic acid. This inhibition accounts quantitatively for the observed decrease in ascorbic acid content of seedlings grown in the presence of the inhibitory salt. Ammonium sulphate has no effect on the catabolism of ascorbic acid. The lowered ascorbic acid content found in the seedlings grown with this salt is attributable only to a decreased synthesis. Ammonium sulphate inhibits only the utilization of glucose and not that of glucurono-gamma-lactone in the in vivo synthesis of ascorbic acid in Phaseolus seedlings.