Amino Acid Synthesis in Photosynthesizing Spinach Cells

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Abstract
Isolated cells from leaves of Spinacia oleracea have been maintained in a state capable of high rates of photosynthetic CO2 fixation for more than 60 hours. The incorporation of 14CO2 under saturating CO2 conditions into carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and amino acids, and the effect of ammonia on this incorporation have been studied. Total incorporation, specific radioactivity, and pool size have been determined as a function of time for most of the protein amino acids and for γ-aminobutyric acid. The measurements of specific radio-activities and of the approaches to 14C “saturation” of some amino acids indicate the presence and relative sizes of metabolically active and passive pools of these amino acids.