Chapter 12 - Products of Nitrogen Fixation and Nitrate Assimilation Are Deposited as Storage Proteins

Abstract

Whereas the products of CO2 assimilation are deposited in plants in the form of oligo- and polysaccharides, nitrogen fixation and nitrate assimilation result in amino acids which are integrated into proteins. These are mostly special storage proteins, which have no enzymatic activity and are often deposited in the cell within protein bodies. Protein bodies are enclosed by a single membrane that is derived from the endomembrane system of the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus or the vacuoles. In potato tubers, storage proteins are also stored in the vacuole.