Distinctive Features of the Functioning of Lactic Acid and the Alcohol Fermentation Enzyme in Sorghum and Pea Leaves under the Conditions of Oxygen Deficiency

Abstract

Dynamic changes in the enzymatic activity of lactate dehydrogenase, L-lactate-cytochrome-c-coxidoreductase, and alcohol dehydrogenase were analyzed in the seedlings of sorghum, a plant resistant to oxygen deficiency, and peas, a plant vulnerable to oxygen deficiency, cultivated under the conditions of flooding. The subcellular localization and isoform composition of the enzymes were characterized. The mechanism underlying the adaptive reaction of cell metabolism was devised from analysis of the results obtained. The reaction is supposed to involve lactate dehydrogenase and L-lactate-cytochrome-c-oxidoreductase enzymes that suppress cytoplasm acidification in sorghum and pea roots in the case of flooding.