PLANT PHYSIOLOGY , Vol 111, Issue 3 901-908, Copyright © 1996 by American Society of Plant Biologists
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DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH REGULATION |
Potamogeton pectinatus Is Constitutively Incapable of Synthesizing Ethylene and Lacks 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylic Acid Oxidase
J. E. Summers, LACJ. Voesenek, CWPM. Blom, M. J. Lewis and M. B. Jackson
Institute of Arable Crops Research-Long Ashton, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bristol, Long Ashton Research Station, Long Ashton, Bristol BS18 9AF, United Kingdom (J.E.S., M.J.L., M.B.J.)
A highly sensitive laser-driven photoacoustic detector responsive to [less
than or equal to]2.1 nmol m-3 ethylene (50 parts per trillion [v/v]) was
used for ethylene analysis. Dark-grown plants of Potamogeton pectinatus L.
growing from small tubers made no ethylene. Exposure of shoots to white
light, wounding, submergence in water followed by desubmergence, partial
oxygen shortage, indole acetic acid, or carbon dioxide failed to induce
ethylene production, although clear effects were observed in Pisum sativum
L. Some ethylene was released after applying high concentrations of the
ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC; 10 mol m-3)
to P. pectinatus, but the amount was trivial compared with that released by
P. sativum. More endogenous ACC was found in P. pectinatus than in P.
sativum. Considerable ACC oxidase activity was present in tissue extracts
of P. sativum. However, no ACC oxidase activity was found in P. pectinatus,
indicating that this is where ethylene production is arrested.
