Polyadenylated RNA was isolated from leaves and seeds of a C3 pant (Triticum aestivum L. cv Cheyenne, CI 8885) and from a C4 plant (Zea mays L. cv Golden bantam). Each polyadenylated RNA preparation was translated in vitro with micrococcal nuclease-treated reticulocyte lysate. When the in vitro translation products were probed with antibodies to pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK) (EC 2.7.9.1), two sizes of polypeptide were identified. A 110 kilodalton polypeptide was found in the in vitro translation products of mRNA isolated exclusively from leaves of both wheat and maize. A 94 kilodalton polypeptide, similar to the PPDK polypeptide which can be extracted after in vivo synthesis in maize and wheat leaves and seeds, was found in the in vitro translation products obtained from wheat seeds and maize kernels.These results indicate that the mRNAs for PPDK polypeptides are organ-specific in both a C4 and a C3 plant. Hague et al. (1983 Nucleic Acids Res 11: 4853-4865) proposed that the larger size polypeptide of the in vitro translation polypeptide from maize leaf RNA contains a 'transit sequence' which permits entry into the chloroplasts of a polypeptide synthesized in vivo in maize leaf cell cytoplasm. It appears that in wheat leaves also the transit of synthesized PPDK polypeptide through an intracellular membrane may be required, while such a transit sequence seems not to be required within cells of wheat and maize seeds.Pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (EC 2.7.9.1) is an essential enzyme for photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation in C4 (8) and in some CAM (11) plants, where it catalyzes formation of phosphoenolpyruvate, the substrate for the initial carboxylation reaction. In C4 leaves, PPDK2 is found in the chloroplasts of the mesophyll cells (8). PPDK is found also in seeds (1, 12) and leaves (1) of wheat and in some other C3 plant tissues (for references, see 2). The role of PPDK in C3 leaf tissues is not clearly known, although it has been suggested that it might be involved in the control of stomatal opening (16). The occurrence of PPDK in developing wheat seeds does not correlate quantitatively with photosynthetic enzymes (2), and it was suggested that one role of the enzyme might be in the conversion of C3 amino acids, especially alanine, to C4 and C5 amino acids.Hague et al. (9) translation products of RNA extracted from maize leaf. Since the in vivo PPDK polypeptide from maize has a mol wt of about 94 to 97 kD, it was proposed that the polypeptide is nuclear encoded and is synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes as a 110 kD polypeptide with the extra 16 kD section serving as a 'transit' sequence to facilitate entry into the chloroplasts. Evidence that PPDK polypeptide is synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes in maize was found when PPDK was detected by an immunoprecipitation probe in the maize mutant iojap which is devoid of chloroplast ribosomes (6).The sizes of PPDK polypeptide(s) formed by in vitro translation of polyadenylated RNA from C3 leaf cells and from seed cells of C4 and C3 plants...