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First published online April 10, 2003; 10.1104/pp.102.018044

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Plant Physiol, May 2003, Vol. 132, pp. 365-371

Growth Ring Formation in the Starch Granules of Potato Tubers1

Emma Pilling and Alison M. Smith*

Department of Metabolic Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom

Starch granules from higher plants contain alternating zones of semicrystalline and amorphous material known as growth rings. The regulation of growth ring formation is not understood. We provide several independent lines of evidence that growth ring formation in the starch granules of potato (Solanum tuberosum) tubers is not under diurnal control. Ring formation is not abolished by growth in constant conditions, and ring periodicity and appearance are relatively unaffected by a change from a 24-h to a 40-h photoperiod, and by alterations in substrate supply to the tuber that are known to affect the diurnal pattern of tuber starch synthesis. Some, but not all, of the features of ring formation are consistent with the involvement of a circadian rhythm. Such a rhythm might operate by changing the relative activities of starch-synthesizing enzymes: Growth ring formation is disrupted in tubers with reduced activity of a major isoform of starch synthase. We suggest that physical as well as biological mechanisms may contribute to the control of ring formation, and that a complex interplay of several factors may by involved.

1 This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (United Kingdom).

* Corresponding author; e-mail alison.smith{at}bbsrc.ac.uk; fax 44-1603-450045.

© 2003 American Society of Plant Biologists


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