Nitrogen nutrition and the accumulation of free and sinapoyl-bound malic acid in Raphanus sativus cotyledons

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Abstract
Seedlings of red radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. sativus) accumulated high amounts of free malic acid and sinapoylmalate, when grown on nitrate as the sole N-source. In the presence of ammonium (NO 3 − : NH 4 + , 1:2) both metabolites failed to accumulate, and the levels of arginine, asparagine, glutamine, histidine, and serine were greatly increased. The extractable activity of 1-sinapoylglucose: l-malate sinapoyltransferase, an enzyme which plays a key role in channelling malic acid into the sinapic-acid metabolism of this plant, was positively correlated with the malic-acid level in cotyledons. The possibility is discussed that free malic acid might be the likely candidate for regulating the activity of 1-sinapoylglucose: l-malate sinapoyltransferase.