Purification and Biochemical Characterization of Sucrose Synthase from the Cytosolic Fraction of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. cv. Amethyst) Nodules

Sucrose synthase (EC 2.4.1.13) has been purified from the plant cytosolic fraction of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. cv. Amethyst) nodules. The native enzyme had a molecular mass of $356{\pm}15kD$. The subunit molecular mass was $87{\pm}2kD$, and a tetrameric structure is proposed for sucrose synthase of chickpea nodule. Optimum activities in the sucrose cleavage and synthesis directions were at pH 6.5 and 9.0, respectively. The purified enzyme displayed typical hyperbolic kinetics with substrates in cleavage and synthesis reactions. Chickpea nodules sucrose synthase had a high affinity for UDP ($K_m$, $8.0{\mu}M$) and relatively low affinities for ADP ($K_m$, 0.23 mM), CDP ($K_m$, 0.87 mM), and GDP ($K_m$, 1.51 mM). The $K_m$ for sucrose was 29.4 mM. In the synthesis reaction, UDP-glucose ($K_m$, $24.1{\mu}M$) was a more effective glucosyl donor than ADP-glucose ($K_m$, 2.7 mM), and the $K_m$ for fructose was 5.4 mM. Divalent cations, such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, and $Mn^{2+}$, stimulated the enzyme activity in both the cleavage and synthesis directions, and the enzyme was very sensitive to inhibition by $HgCl_2$ and $CuSO_4$.