Respiration and soluble sugar metabolism in sugar pine embryos

Abstract

Embroys excised from dormant seeds of sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Dougl.) incubated at 25°C (non‐dormancy‐breaking) or stratified at 5°C (dormancy‐breaking) were analyzed to determine temperature effects on the relative activities of respiration and fermentative metabolism, the levels of soluble sugers and the activities of the hydrolytic enzymes, invertase and sucrose synthase, as related to the release of dormancy and germinatio. At 25°C, despite a sharp drop in embryo oxygen uptake after 48 h, a simultaneous decline in acetaldehyde and ethanol concentrations indicated that there was not a shift to fermentative metabolism. The concentrations of soluble sugars showed no treatment effects. Embryo invertase (EC 3.2.1.26) activity changed only slightly at either temperature, while stratification was accompanied by a 4‐fold increase in sucrose synthase (EC 2.4.1.13) activity (cleavage direction). Upon transfer of stratified seeds to 25°C, embryo sucrose synthase activity rapidly increased almost 10‐fold, with the increase beginning prior to germination, while mvertase activity increased 20‐fold, concomitant with germination.