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Relationship Between Decarboxylation of Glutamic Acid and Vigor in Soybean Seed¹

The relationship between seed vigor and decarboxylation of glutamic acid in 16 lots of soybean (Glycine max L. cv. Lee-68) was determined (i) manometrically by incubating ground seeds in 75 mM solutions of glutamic acid at pH 5.2 and measuring CO₂ production, and (ii) isotopically by incubating excised embryonic axes in 1 mM glutamic acid-1-¹⁴C (0.3 µCi/ml) and measuring ¹⁴CO₂. Both methods agree in that decarboxylation of glutamic acid, presumably by glutamic decarboxylase, was high in both the low- and high-vigor lots. The high decarboxylation of glutamic acid in dry soybean seeds and the low content of glutamic acid in either the imbibed or nonimbibed seed suggest that glutamic acid concentration limits the decarboxylation rate during imbibition. Comparison of total CO₂ produced by whole seeds or seed parts (axes and cotyledons) during early germination with that estimated from glutamic acid decarboxylation suggests that CO₂ production by the tissues via glutamic acid decarboxylation accounts for only a small portion of the CO₂ produced by the seeds.

Vigor of the soybean lots is highly correlated with the ability of the excised embryonic axes to incorporate glutamic acid into water-soluble protein and maintain a relatively high rate of respiration. The decreased 02 uptake and CO₂ production by the low-vigor lots, pronounced in the axes and negligible in cotyledons, suggests that a search for biochemical indices to measure seed vigor should be focused on embryonic axes rather than on whole seeds.

Key Words: Glutamic decarboxylation • Respiration • Protein synthesis • Germination • Amino acid decarboxylation • Glycine max L.

² Plant Physiologists, Post Harvest Physiology Laboratory, ARS, USDA, Beltsville, Md. 20705.

Received for publication July 31, 1972.

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