Intercellular Invertase in Developing Peach Mesocarp

Abstract

Acid invertase (β-fructofuranosidase, EC 3.2.1.26) was extracted from peach mesocarp (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) using a range of extraction conditions. The enzyme always was attached to insoluble particles in the crude homogenate and was bound by a mechanism that could not have arisen during extraction. The activity in the insoluble fraction made up (essentially) all of the total activity extracted from the tissue and was the same as the activity shown by whole tissue slices placed directly into the assay solution. These results demonstrate that most of the acid invertase in developing peach mesocarp is located outside the cell. The amount of this enzyme, as measured in vitro, did not change during development at times when the rate of dry matter increase was changing rapidly. Either the action of intercellular invertase is not associated with the control of dry matter accumulation in peach mesocarp, or control is effected through activity of the enzyme in vivo, not its synthesis or degradation.