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Studies on Genetic Male-Sterile Soybeans ¹

III. The Initiation of Monocarpic Senescence

United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Department of Crop Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27650, Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27650, Department of Botany, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281, Department of Microbiology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281

Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) germplasm, isogenic except for loci controlling male-sterility (ms₁) and nodulation (rj₁) was utilized to investigate the effects of reproductive tissue development and nitrogen source on the initiation of monocarpic senescence. The experimental genotypes (Ms₁Rj₁, Ms₁rj₁, ms₁Rj₁, and ms₁rj₁, were selected from a cross between N69-2774 and N59-5259, and were inbred to the F₅ generation. Green-house-grown plants were collected during the period of flowering (77 days after transplanting) until maturity (147 days after transplanting). Leaf tissues from the respective genotypes were analyzed at the various harvest dates for RNA, phenolic, and chlorophyll concentrations; acid protease activity; polypeptide banding patterns of chloroplast thylakoids; and chloroplastic ultrastructure.

Regardless of nitrogen source, total chlorophyll concentrations declined between 77 and 119 days after transplanting, resulting in a 40% loss of chlorophyll per square centimeter in all genotypes. Leaf chlorophyll levels continued to decline at a constant rate in male-fertile genotypes, but remained at a constant level (26 micrograms chlorophyll per square centimeter) in male-sterile genotypes, for the remainder of the study. With increased leaf age, a gradual disruption of thylakoid structures was observed, particularly in chloroplasts from the male-fertile genotypes. Chloroplasts from the male-sterile genotypes appeared to lose starch grains but increased their number of chloroplastic lipid bodies with leaf aging. These data suggest that monocarpic senescence in soybeans was initiated at or before flowering. Although reproductive tissue development probably augmented the process, the response attributed to seed formation was not apparent until the mid-pod fill stage (119 days after transplanting). All genotypes had similar changes in other cellular components that are recognized as indicators of plant senescence regardless of whether the plants produced seed.

¹ Cooperative investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service and North Carolina State Agriculture Research Service, Raleigh, NC. Paper No. 8967 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, NC 27650.

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