Methylation in the Barley Plant

Abstract

Evidence involving choline in transmethylation reactions and the part played by it in those reactions are described and discussed. To discover the methylation pathways in barley, labelled methionine, choline, formate and bicarbonate wore administered to barley, and hordenine and choline were isolated and degraded to determine which of tho compounds administered wore precursors of the methyl groups. Methionine and formato proved to bo efficient precursors, but choline and bicarbonate failed to act as precursors of mothyls. The significance of these findings to the overall methylation process of the plant is discussed.