Effects of Constituent Amino Acids of Glutathione and Ammonium Sulfate added to Hydroponic Solution on the Synthesis of Glutathione in Lettuce

Effects of Constituent Amino Acids of Glutathione and Ammonium Sulfate added to Hydroponic Solution on the Synthesis of Glutathione in Lettuce

The effects of constituent amino acids of glutathione (GSH), glutamate (Glu), cysteine (Cys) and glycine (Gly), on GSH synthesis in lettuce seedlings were examined in this study. The GSH concentration of the seedlings was increased to 5.1-fold and 1.6-fold the concentration of the control in the first leaves and roots, respectively, by simultaneous application of these constituent amino acids (Glu+Cys+Gly) at 100 mg/l to the culture solution for two days. In the first leaves and roots of these seedlings, the concentration of GSH was 180.4 and 14.6 nmole/gFW, and non-essential amino acids including Glu, Cys and Gly occupied 93.2% and 84.0% of the total free amino acids, respectively. Application of Cys greatly increased the concentration of GSH in the roots, and application of 50 mg/l Cys increased it to 26.1-fold the concentration in the control. The activity of GSH synthetase was higher in the leaves than in the roots, whereas the activity of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase was higher in the roots than in the leaves.