Unusual accumulation of S-methylmethionine in aerobic-etiolated and in anoxic rice seedlings: An 1H-NMR study

An unknown signal at 2.93 ppm in 1H-NMR spectra of rice, Oryza sativa, was assigned to the methyl groups of sulphur-methylmethionine (SMM), thereby devising a new method for the determination of this compound. Rice seedlings growing aerobically in the dark and in the light engaged for the synthesis of SMM an amount of Met corresponding to 23 and 8 %, respectively, of the total seed reserves of this amino acid. In etiolated shoots, SMM reached 1.2 μmol g−1 fresh weight, an unusually high level in vegetative tissues of wild-type plants. This is compared to a value of 0.4 μmol g−1 fresh weight in green tissues. A decreased demand for Met during growth caused the higher accumulation of SMM in etiolated, rather than green, tissues. At the same time, dark seedlings were endowed with a readily utilizable and translocable alternative form of Met, as shown by retrieval of SMM from the coleoptile. The importance of methyl group storage in SMM is shown by comparison with choline and choline phosphate pools.