Glucose Catabolism in Normal and Autonomous Tobacco Tissue Cultures

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Abstract
A pronounced difference in oxygen consumption and glucose catabolism existed between an auxin-kinin dependant tobacco tissue and a derived strain autonomous for these growth regulators. On a dry weight basis the latter took up oxygen at a rate roughly half again as fast as the former although the rate of glucose uptake was about the same in the 2 strains. By the use of glucose labeled with C14 in different positions and the recovery of CO2 in a- Warburg manometer modified for ratio respirometry, it was shown that pentose pathway activity was prominent in both kinds of tissue to about the same degree. However, when glucose-3(4)-C14 was respired, a much greater fraction of the radioactivity taken up per mg dry weight was recovered as C14O2 in the autonomous tissue than in the normal. The data suggest that the greater growth rate and increased oxygen consumption in the autonomous tissue are associated with an enhanced oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate derived from glucose.