Utilization of Glycerol in the Tissues of the Castor Bean Seedling.

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Abstract
Non-green cotyledons excised from young germinating seedlings of castor bean metabolized glycerol-C14 actively under aerobic conditions. About one quarter of the supplied glycerol was oxidized to C14O2 by a sequence which apparently involved glycolytic intermediates, pyruvic acid and the Krebs cycle. A large fraction of the remainder of the glycerol was found in sucrose isolated from the tissue, and degradation showed that the glycerol carbon skeleton had been incorporated intact, as would be required if the glycerol were first converted to triosephosphate and then subject to the action of aldolase. The effects of 2,4-dinitrophenol on this system are described, and the interpretation is that the extent to which synthesis of sucrose from glycerol occurs is governed by the rate of glycolytic utilization of triosephosphate, which is itself regulated by aerobic phosphorylations.