MICRONUTRIENTS - THEIR FUNCTION IN METABOLISM - SYNTHESIS OF GLUTAMIC ACID - THE ROLE OF COPPER
Copper appears to be a component of various plant organic complexes that have a function in chlorophyll formation. Chlorophyll is the green material in plants. Copper is also known to have a basic energy-changing role in the enzyme production of amino acids.
Copper could be the key to the activation of glutamic dehydrogenase, the enzyme that is active in linking ammonia to an organic acid for the production of glutamic acid. This enzyme also works to link amino acids together into finished proteins.
Under copper-deficient conditions, ammonia may fail to be converted to glutamic acid and a tip burn and marginal scorch can be seen on leaves. Sometimes it is not enough to add nitrogen fertilizer to raise grain protein level; often extra copper is needed to turn nitrogen into protein.
Here we see enzymes linking amino acid chains into finished protein. Here the protein is being shaped into the compact grana that go into the chloroplasts. The chloroplast is composed of the chlorophyll-containing grana, which is disc shaped, and each granum is composed of a number of layers of configured protein.
The grana are incorporated into the chloroplasts, which with sun radiation (photosynthesis), produce from water and carbon dioxide the sugar needed for respiration energy.
We have looked at the roles that copper and molybdenum have in nitrogen utilization. We have also looked into work rooms that produce energy carriers and vitamins. We are now coming to one of the most important areas of the whole plant factory – that portion in which sunlight is turned into energy. Here we will find manganese at work.
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