Occurrence of cyclic AMP and related enzymes during germination of Pinus pinea seeds.

The occurrence of cAMP, adenylate cyclase and cAMP phosphodiesterase has been tested in Pinus pinea seed during germination. The study has been carried out on dormant and imbibed seeds, seedlings, endospermic residues, roots and cotyledons. cAMP has been detected by the protein binding method and its occurrence has been verified by HPLC detections. cAMP phosphodiesterase shows a very high activity at acidic pH, while being completely inactive at pH 7.4. At this pH value, well detectable levels of adenylate cyclase have been observed. Therefore, the classical pathway of synthesis and breakdown of cAMP, already accepted for animal and bacterial cells, seems to be operating in Pinus pinea plant too.