Abstract
EARLY reports1 that norvaline, a synthetic amino-acid, was detectable in protein hydrolysates have not been confirmed using modern techniques2. No reports are known to me of the detection of norvaline as a free amino-acid in tissues. It has, however, been reported3 that on addition of α-ketovaleric acid and glutamine to extracts of rat liver, the α-ketovaleric acid was converted to norvaline. A number of other α-keto acids were converted to the corresponding amino-acid by the extract. The conversion to norvaline, therefore, could be attributed to low specificity of the postulated enzyme. In spite of this, it was decided to include DL-norvaline in a series of amino-acids tested for ability to replace pyridoxine in the nutrition of a clone of excised tomato roots. Some nutritional requirements of this clone and the experimental techniques are given elsewhere4.
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Abderhalden, E., and Bahn, A., Ber. d. Chem. Ges., 63, 914 (1930). Abderhalden, E., and Reich, F., Z. physiol. Chem., 193, 198 (1930). Abderhalden, E., and Haynes, K., Z. physiol. Chem., 206, 137 (1932).
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Boll, W. G., Plant Physiol. (in the press).
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BOLL, W. Norvaline: a Growth Factor for Excised Tomato Roots. Nature 174, 517 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/174517a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/174517a0
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