Abstract
The sugar alcohol sorbitol is a major translocatory product in most commercially important species in the Rosaceae family. Sugar alcohols are thought to play a variety of roles in plant tissue, including protecting metabolism during stress. Sorbitol has been found in high concentrations in 1‐year‐old apple (Malus domestica) shoots, however studies have shown that not all tissue throughout a tree has the ability to metabolise sorbitol. In this study, we looked at sorbitol metabolism in 1‐year‐old apple shoots using a variety of methods including carbohydrate depletion, metabolism of 14C‐sorbitol, and extraction of sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), the enzyme necessary to convert sorbitol to fructose. Although starch stores were able to be depleted in the shoot, sorbitol levels increased, corresponding to the decrease in starch, resulting in little net loss of carbohydrate. 14C‐sorbitol was not metabolised and no SDH was found in shoot tissue, suggesting that sorbitol has limited metabolism in 1‐year‐old apple shoots. Sorbitol may thus be ideal for translocation in apple shoot tissue because of its ready movement into the transport pathway, but its restricted utilisation there.
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Schedule a callMore From: New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science
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