In vitro grown potato microtubers are a suitable system for the study of primary carbohydrate metabolism

The aim of this work was to determine the suitability of tissue culture microtubers for the study of primary carbohydrate metabolism in potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Desirée). We have determined the levels of key enzymes and intermediates in the pathways of sucrose metabolism, starch metabolism and glycolysis in wild type microtubers. Comparison of the metabolite levels in microtubers with a range of published studies on soil-grown developing tubers showed that the two systems were similar both in the absolute levels and in the ratios between metabolites, despite some differences in the maximum catalytic activities of some glycolytic enzymes. We conclude that in vitro grown microtubers are an adequate model system for studying primary carbohydrate metabolism in developing potato tubers.