A possible relation between cyclic-AMP levels and glycogen mobilization in Coprinus cinereus

Abstract

Addition of cyclic AMP to specific sites in plate cultures of a mature dikaryotic colony of Coprinus cinereus caused a twofold increase in the amount of glycogen over the whole culture within 19 h. There was no evidence for non-random distribution of glycogen around the site of administration of the cAMP. In the normally developing fruit body levels of endogenous cAMP were considerably elevated in fruit body initials and remained unusually high in the fruit body until very late stages of development, when they declined to about the concentrations observed in mycelium. These cAMP accumulations were positively correlated with localized accumulations of glycogen within the fruit body. Published data from in vitro analyses suggest that cAMP may inhibit glycogen synthesis and activate glycogen breakdown in Coprinus. It is suggested that observations reported here would be consistent with this view if cAMP were specifically involved in the bulk translocation of glycogen, i.e. promoted glycogen breakdown in order to mobilize carbohydrate for transport, rather than immediate metabolism.