BIOCHEMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES DURING MATURATION OF FRUIT OF FIELD PEA (PISUM ARVENSE L)

Quantitative changes in the carbohydrates, soluble nitrogenous compounds, and specific proteins of seeds and pods of field pea have been followed during two seasons and related to the overall pattern of growth of the embryo and other parts of the fruit. Reserves of solutes are established in the pod and in the seed coat and endosperm of the seed some time before the embryo commences its exponential phase of growth. Later, these reserves disappear and it is estimated that their mobilization might provide, at the most, only one-fifth of the embryo's requirements for carbon and nitrogen.Starch and certain albumin-type proteins accumulate relatively early in the life of the embryo. Globulin-type proteins, by contrast, are laid down only after the cotyledons are almost full size and after most of the reserve of starch has been accumulated. The content of hemicellulose, the principal carbohydrate of the embryo, increases steadily as the embryo grows. Neither hemicellulose nor globulin is found in appreciable amounts in organs other than the cotyledons.Each organ of the fruit has its own highly characteristic pool of free amino acids. Orderly and reproducible changes occur in the composition of these pools during fruit development, suggesting that variations in the amounts of specific compounds may have special significance in the programme of development and synthesis in the fruit. © 1968 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.