Starch Phosphorylase Inhibitor from Sweet Potato

A protein, starch phosphorylase inhibitor, was purified from the root of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam. cv Tainon 65). It had a molecular weight of 250,000 and could be composed of five identical subunits. The isoelectric point of the inhibitor was 4.63. It was a noncompetitive inhibitor toward the sweet potato enzyme with a K(i) value of 1.3 x 10(-6) molar when glucose-1-P was the variable substrate. Because cross-reacting materials of rabbit antiphosphorylase inhibitor of sweet potato were found in three arbitrarily selected plant materials, viz. potato tuber, spinach leaf, and rice grain, the occurrence of this protein seemed universal in higher plants. By an immunofluorescence technique, the inhibitor was located in the amyloplast and cell wall where phosphorylase was also found. This implies that they may interact in vivo, and the inhibitor may play an unknown regulatory role against the plant enzyme.