Light-stimulated accumulation of the peroxisomal enzymes hydroxypyruvate reductase and serine: glyoxylate aminotransferase and their translatable mRNAs in cotyledons of cucumber seedlings

The development of peroxisomal enzymes in cotyledons of cucumber seedlings is strongly dependent on light. In light-grown seedlings, activities of two peroxisomal enzymes, hydroxypyruvate reductase (HPR) and serine: glyoxylate aminotransferase (SGAT), were barely detectable until three days postimbibition, after which time both activities increased rapidly and linearly for at least three days. In the dark, the activities of these enzymes increased slightly over the same time period, but only to about 5% to 10% of 7-day light-induced levels. When 5 1/2-day dark-grown seedlings were transferred into white light, activities of HPR and SGAT began to increase after approximately 8 h. HPR protein was shown by an immunoprecipitation assay to increase concurrently with enzymatic activity in both light- and dark-grown cotyledons. Immunoblotting results suggested that the amounts of SGAT-A and SGAT-B, the two subunits of SGAT, also developed along with SGAT activity. The relative levels of translatable mRNAs encoding HPR, SGAT-A, and SGAT-B were also light-dependent, and increased with a developmental pattern similar to enzyme activity and protein levels in light- and dark-grown cotyledons. In 5 1/2-day dark-grown cotyledons that were transferred to the light, translatable mRNAs for SGAT-A and SGAT-B began to increase within 1 h of illumination and continued of increase rapidly and linearly for the next 24 h in the light to a new steady-state level that was 45 times that of dark controls. Translatable HPR mRNA exhibited a biphasic pattern of accumulation, with a three-fold increase during the first 6 h of illumination, followed by an additional six-fold increase between 8 and 24 h. The accumulation of translationally active mRNA for both enzymes preceded the accumulation of the corresponding protein and enzyme activity by about 8 h. Our data suggest that the rise in enzyme activity depends on an increase in translatable mRNA for these enzymes and is regulated at a pretranslational level, most likely involving transcription of new mRNA.