Degradation of Glutathione in Plant Cells: Evidence against the Participation of a γ-Glutamyltranspeptidase

When γ-glutamyltranspeptidase activity in tobacco cells was measured using the artificial substrate γ-glutamyl-p-nitroanilide, liberation of p-nitroaniline was not reduced, but stimulated by addition of glutathione. Therefore, glutathione was not acting as a donator, but as an acceptor of γ-glutamyl moieties in the assay mixture, suggesting that γ-glutamvltranspeptidase is not participating in degradation of glutathione. Feeding experiments with [³⁵S-cys]glutathione sup­ported this conclusion. When tobacco cells were supplied with this peptide as sole sulfur source, glutathione and γ-glutamylcysteine were the only labelled compounds found inside the cells. The low rate of uptake of glutathione apparently prevented the accumulation of measurable amounts of radioactivity in the cysteine pool. A γ-glutamylcyclotransferase, responsible for the conversion of γ-glutamylcysteine to 5-oxo-proline and cysteine was found in ammonium sulfate precipitates of tobacco cell homogenates. The enzyme showed high activities with γ-glutamylmethionine and γ-glutamylcysteine, but not with other γ-glutamyldipeptides or glutathione. From these and previously published experiments [(Rennenberg et a!., Z. Naturforsch. 35c, 708-711 (1980)], it is concluded that glutathione is degraded in tobacco cells via the following pathway: γ-glu-cys-gly → γ-glu-cys → 5-oxo-proline → glu.