ABSTRACT
To assess the role of antioxidant defense system on exposure to ultra-violet-B (UV-B) radiation, the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbic acid peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR) and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), as well as the level of antioxidants ascorbic acid (AA) and alpha-tocopherol were monitored in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. var long green) cotyledons. UV-B enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes as well as AA content, but decreased the level of alpha-tocopherol. Significant increase was observed in the activities of SOD and GPX. Analysis of isoforms of antioxidant enzymes by native-PAGE and activity staining revealed three isoforms of GPX in unexposed dark-grown cotyledons (control), and their intensity was enhanced by UV-B exposure. In addition, four new isoforms of GPX were observed in cotyledons after UV-B exposure. Although no new isoforms were observed for the other antioxidant enzymes, the activities of their existing isoforms were enhanced by UV-B.
Subject(s)
Antioxidants/metabolism , Cotyledon/enzymology , Cucumis sativus/enzymology , Glutathione Reductase/metabolism , Isoenzymes/metabolism , Peroxidase/metabolism , Peroxidases/metabolism , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism , Ultraviolet RaysABSTRACT
The chickpea seed germination was carried out in 6 days. During the period it was observed a little variation on total nitrogen contents, however the non protein nitrogen was double. A decrease of 19.1 and 20.6 in relation to total nitrogen was observed to the total globulin and albumin fractions, respectively. The gel filtration chromatography on Sepharose CL-6B and SDS-PAGE demonstrated alterations on the distribution patterns of the albumin and total globulin fractions between the initial and the sixth day of germination suggesting the occurrence of protein degradation in the germination process. The assay for acid protease only appeared in the albumin fraction with casein and chickpea total globulin as substrates, whereas the former was more degraded than the latter, however the transformations detected in the protein fractions appear indicated that others enzymes could be acting during the process. The trypsin inhibitor activity had a little drop after six day of germination indicating a possible increase on the digestibility of the proteins.