On the Formation of Asparagin in the 

 Metabolism of Shoots, 



BY 



U. Suzuki. 



It is a fact that while the various amido-compounds formed 

 from protein during the termination process disappear gradually 

 with the further development of the shoots, the asparagin 

 increases to a certain phase whereupon also this disappears. 

 The more carbohydrate is present in seeds, the quicker will the 

 asparagin disappear in the following period. But with seeds 

 rich in protein the gradual transformations of the nitrogen 

 compounds can be much better traced ; the accumulation of 

 asparagin is more considerable, and it is here that the sugar 

 is finally formed by assimilation in the young leaves which 

 causes the consumption of the asparagin in the process of 

 protein formation. 



We owe to Prof. E. Schntee and his students many very 

 valuable investigations in this line. But thus far it is not 

 entirely clear how the primary amido-compounds such as leucin, 

 tyrosin, arginin, etc. formed by the action of a proteolytic 

 enzyme upon the reserve protein of the seed, are gradually 

 transformed into asparagin. It seems to me that most probably 

 the primary amido-compounds are destroyed more or less 

 completely by an oxidation process, and that the nitrogen 

 liberated thereby as ammonia serves for the synthesis of aspara- 

 gin, since ammonia would act noxiously by its accumulation. 1 

 Besides, as I proved some years ago, ammonia offered to the 

 roots in larger doses than is needed for the immediate protein 

 formation, is transformed into asparagin and is stored up as such 



1 Compare also the theory of protein formation of O. Loew, in Chapt. 8 of: Die 

 Chemische Energie der Lebenden Zellen. 



