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The three (η6-xylene)Mo(CO)3 complexes have been prepared and crystallographically characterized to determine the rotational relationship of the arene ring to the undercarriage, as has been suggested by theoretical studies. In fact, no such relationship can be seen, especially when combined with eight examples of structures with Z′ > 1, where both staggered and eclipsed forms are found.

Rapid enrichment of CHAPS-solubilized UDP-glucose:(1,3)-β-glucan (callose) synthase from storage tissue of red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is obtained when the preparation is incubated with an enzyme assay mixture, then centrifuged and the enzyme released from the callose pellet with a buffer containing EDTA and CHAPS (20-fold purification relative to microsomes). When centrifuged at high speed (80,000g), the enzyme can also be pelleted in the absence of substrate (UDP-Glc) or synthesis of callose, due to nonspecific aggregation of proteins caused by excess cations and insufficient detergent in the assay buffer. True time-dependent and substrate-dependent product-entrapment of callose synthase is obtained by low-speed centrifugation (7,000-11,000g) of enzyme incubated in reaction mixtures containing low levels of cations (0.5 millimolar Mg2+, 1 millimolar Ca2+) and sufficient detergent (0.02% digitonin, 0.12% CHAPS), together with cellobiose, buffer, and UDP-Glc. Entrapment conditions, therefore, are a compromise between preventing nonspecific precipitation of proteins and permitting sufficient enzyme activity for callose synthesis. Further enrichment of the enzyme released from the callose pellet was not obtained by rate-zonal glycerol gradient centrifugation, although its sedimentation rate was greatly enhanced by inclusion of divalent cations in the gradient. Preparations were markedly cleaner when product-entrapment was conducted on enzyme solubilized from plasma membranes isolated by aqueous two-phase partitioning rather than by gradient centrifugation. Product-entrapped preparations consistently contained polypeptides or groups of closely-migrating polypeptides at molecular masses of 92, 83, 70, 57, 43, 35, 31/29, and 27 kilodaltons. This polypeptide profile is in accordance with the findings of other callose synthase enrichment studies using a variety of tissue sources, and is consistent with the existence of a multi-subunit enzyme complex.

We have identified a 52 kilodalton polypeptide as being a likely candidate for the catalytic subunit of the UDP-glucose: (1→3)-β-glucan (callose) synthase of developing fibers of Gossypium hirsutum (cotton). Such a polypeptide migrates coincident with callose synthase during glycerol gradient centrifugation in the presence of EDTA, and can be directly photolabeled with the radioactive substrate, α-[32P]UDP-glucose. Interaction with the labeled probe requires Ca2+, a specific activator of callose synthase which is known to lower the Km of higher plant callose synthases for the substrate UDP-glucose. Using this probe and several other related ones, several other proteins which interact with UDP-glucose were also identified, but none satisfied all of the above criteria for being components of the callose synthase.

The effects of the lysine-reactive chemical modification reagents, uridine 5’ diphospho (UDP)-pyridoxal and formaldehyde (HCHO), on the activity of membrane-bound and solubilized UDP-Glc: (1,3)-β-D-glucan synthase (callose synthase) from red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) storage tissue were compared. Exposure to micromolar levels of UDP-pyridoxal, or millimolar levels of HCHO in the presence of NaCNBH3, resulted in complete enzyme inactivation. Conditions for inhibition of membrane-bound enzyme activity by the two reagents were markedly similar; divalent cations were required for inactivation, and complete protection of activity was obtained with EDTA or EGTA. The substrate, UDP-Glc, protected membrane-bound callose synthase against inactivation by UDP-pyridoxal or HCHO, but protected the solubilized enzyme only against inhibition by UDP-pyridoxal, suggesting that the lysine residue modified by both these reagents is at the enzyme active site, and that the site is more open or has a certain conformational flexibility in the solubilized enzyme. Potential UDP-Glc-binding polypeptides of callose synthase were identified by a two-step labeling procedure. First, nonessential lysine residues were blocked by irreversible modification reaction with HCHO or UDP-pyridoxal in the presence of UDP-Glc to protect lysines at UDP-Glc-binding sites. In the second step, proteins were recovered, reacted with [14C]-HCHO in the absence of UDP-Glc, and polypeptide labeling patterns analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fluorography. This procedure reduced incorporation of label by 5- to 8-fold compared to a procedure omitting the preblocking step, and with enzyme partially purified by solubilization in CHAPS followed by product entrapment, labeling was limited to a small set of polypeptides. Taken together with the results of other studies, the data suggest that one or more polypeptides migrating in the 54–57 kDa region are good candidates for the UDP-Glc-binding components of callose synthase.

Cells must communicate with each other and their environment in order to survive. All higher plant cells are encased in a wall that provides mechanical support to the plant and resists the outward force of turgor pressure exerted by the protoplast. The physicochemical properties of the wall also cause it to act as a molecular and ionic filter, and walls allow passage of some components diffusing from adjacent cells and restrict movement of others. In this review we will present the different methods and approaches that have been used to determine wall porosity, indicate the assumptions inherent in each, and attempt to relate our understanding of wall porosity to the microscopic properties of plant cell walls.

The herbicide 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (DCB) is an effective and apparently specific inhibitor of cellulose synthesis in higher plants. We have synthesized a photoreactive analog of DCB (2,6-dichlorophenylazide [DCPA]) for use as an affinity-labeling probe to identify the DCB receptor in plants. This analog retains herbicide activity and inhibits cellulose synthesis in cotton fibers and tobacco cells in a manner similar to DCB. When cotton fiber extracts are incubated with [(3)H]DCPA and exposed to ultraviolet light, an 18 kilodalton polypeptide is specifically labeled. About 90% of this polypeptide is found in the 100,000g supernatant, the remainder being membrane-associated. Gel filtration and nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of this polypeptide indicate that it is an acidic protein which has a similar size in its native or denatured state. The amount of 18 kilodalton polypeptide detectable by [(3)H]DCPA-labeling increases substantially at the onset of secondary wall cellulose synthesis in the fibers. A similar polypeptide, but of lower molecular weight (12,000), has been detected upon labeling of extracts from tomato or from the cellulosic alga Chara corallina. The specificity of labeling of the 18 kilodalton cotton fiber polypeptide, coupled with its pattern of developmental regulation, implicate a role for this protein in cellulose biosynthesis. Being, at most, only loosely associated with membranes, it is unlikely to be the catalytic polypeptide of the cellulose synthase, and we suggest instead that the DCB receptor may function as a regulatory protein for beta-glucan synthesis in plants.