This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schuster, A. M. Articles by Davies, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schuster, A. M. Articles by Davies, E. Agricola Articles by Schuster, A. M. Articles by Davies, E.

Articles

Ribonucleic Acid and Protein Metabolism in Pea Epicotyls ¹

II. Response to Wounding in Aged Tissue

School of Life Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0118

Aged pea Pisum sativum L. var Alaska epicotyl tissue was wounded by excising the apical 10 or 20 millimeters and incubating the excised segments upright in buffer. Wounding induced a very rapid formation of polysomes which was accompanied by minor increases in ribosomes, mRNA, and poly(A) and by a doubling of the in vivo protein synthesizing capacity. This increase in protein synthesis in vivo was matched by a similar increase in polypeptide synthesis in vitro in wheat germ reactions primed by polysomes. However, in vitro reactions primed by total and polysomal RNA from wounded tissue were affected much less.

Two-dimensional gel patterns of silver-stained proteins accumulated in vivo were almost unchanged, even after 6 hours of wounding, since only two spots decreased in intensity and none increased. In contrast, two-dimensional gel fluorographs of polypeptides generated in vitro by both total RNA and polysomal RNA showed numerous changes within 3 hours of wounding. Of the more than 200 spots visualized by fluorography, 17 decreased and 26 increased when total RNA from wounded tissue was used; 15 decreased and 10 increased when polysomal RNA was used. Those polypeptides that decreased after wounding were generally of lower molecular weight; those which increased were of higher molecular weight.

Although wounding must be affecting transcription insofar as different mRNAs must be present to encode different polypeptides, its major effect appears to be on translation, presumably through formation of ribosomes with greater translational efficiency.

³ To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

¹ Supported by National Science Foundation grant PCM-8109885 and by National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research funds from the University of Nebraska Research Council to E. D.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Bouarab, P. Potin, J. Correa, and B. Kloareg Sulfated Oligosaccharides Mediate the Interaction between a Marine Red Alga and Its Green Algal Pathogenic Endophyte PLANT CELL, September 1, 1999; 11(9): 1635 - 1650. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				J. K. Morelli, W. Zhou, J. Yu, C. Lu, and M. E. Vayda Actin Depolymerization Affects Stress-Induced Translational Activity of Potato Tuber Tissue Plant Physiology, April 1, 1998; 116(4): 1227 - 1237. [Abstract] [Full Text]