Abstract
The aim of this work was to discover the pathway of starch breakdown during thermogenesis in the club of the spadix of Arum maculatum. The conventional α-amylase of higher plants could not be demonstrated in extracts of clubs although such extracts did exhibit considerable hydrolytic activity towards starch. This activity had an action pattern characteristic of an endo-amylase, was destroyed by heating to 70°, and was not inhibited by either 7 mM ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid or 100 mM N-ethyl maleimide. Measurements of this hydrolytic activity, and of the maximum catalytic activities of starch phosphorylase, phosphoglucomutase and hexokinase, were made at different stages of club development. These measurements were compared with estimates of the rate of starch breakdown at thermogenesis. This comparison indicates that phosphorolytic cleavage does not play a large role in such starch breakdown, and that this process is mediated, mainly, by the hydrolytic activity, described above, and by hexokinase.
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