The course of adenine nucleotide contents in white and green soybean cells during growth in batch suspension culture

Abstract

Soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr.) cells grown in suspension culture under continuous illumination in the presence of glucose show chloroplast biogenesis (green cells), which is absent in cells cultured in the dark (white cells). In both white and green cells the total amount of adenine nucleotides and the amount of ATP sharply increased during the lag phase, followed by a continuous decrease during subsequent growth. The ADP/ATP ratio and the energy charge in both kinds of cells were equal from the 2nd through the 5th day of culture. From the 6th day in green cells the ADP/ATP ratio increased and the energy charge decreased, while in white cells both parameters remained relatively constant, leading to significant differences between white and green cells. The failure of green cells to maintain the equilibrium between energy-requiring and -generating processes might be related to the energy demands of the continued development of the internal membrane system of the chloroplasts beyond the 5th day of culture.