Plant Physiol. (1998) 117: 575-584
The Role of Gibberellin, Abscisic Acid, and Sucrose in the
Regulation of Potato Tuber Formation in Vitro1
Xin Xu,
André A.M. van Lammeren,
Evert Vermeer, and
Dick Vreugdenhil*
Graduate School Experimental Plant Sciences, Department of Plant
Physiology (X.X., E.V., D.V.), and Department of Plant Cytology and
Morphology (X.X., A.A.M.v.L.), Wageningen Agricultural University,
Arboretumlaan 4, 6703 BD Wageningen, The Netherlands
 |
ABSTRACT |
The effects of plant hormones and
sucrose (Suc) on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)
tuberization were studied using in vitro cultured single-node cuttings.
Tuber-inducing (high Suc) and -noninducing (low Suc or high Suc plus
gibberellin [GA]) media were tested. Tuberization frequencies, tuber
widths, and stolon lengths were measured during successive stages of
development. Endogenous GAs and abscisic acid (ABA) were identified and
quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography and gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry. Exogenous GA4/7 promoted
stolon elongation and inhibited tuber formation, whereas exogenous ABA
stimulated tuberization and reduced stolon length. Indoleacetic
acid-containing media severely inhibited elongation of stolons and
smaller sessile tubers were formed. Exogenous cytokinins did not affect
stolon elongation and tuber formation. Endogenous GA1 level
was high during stolon elongation and decreased when stolon tips
started to swell under inducing conditions, whereas it remained high
under noninducing conditions. GA1 levels were negatively
correlated with Suc concentration in the medium. We conclude that
GA1 is likely to be the active GA during tuber formation.
Endogenous ABA levels decreased during stolon and tuber development,
and ABA levels were similar under inducing and noninducing conditions.
Our results indicate that GA is a dominant regulator in tuber
formation: ABA stimulates tuberization by counteracting GA, and Suc
regulates tuber formation by influencing GA levels.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
Hormones have been suggested to play a prominent role in the
control of tuberization (for review, see Ewing, 1987
; Vreugdenhil and
Struik, 1989
). The possible role of GAs in this process was extensively
studied, mainly in experiments in which this compound was applied
exogenously. These experiments showed that application of GA promotes
stolon elongation and inhibits tuber formation (Smith and Rappaport,
1969
; Kumar and Wareing, 1972
). It was also reported that a decline of
GA activity in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants is
associated with tuberization (Okazawa, 1959
, 1960
; Smith and Rappaport,
1969
; Pont Lezica, 1970
; Railton and Wareing, 1973
; Krauss and
Marschner, 1982
). Although the inhibiting effect of GA on potato
tuberization is well documented, the interaction between GA and other
regulating factors on the control of tuberization is still a matter of
debate. ABA is normally regarded as a regulator that reduces
GA-promoted processes in plant development. It was assumed that ABA is
a promoting hormone in potato tuberization (Okazawa and Chapman, 1962
;
Marschner et al., 1984
). However, the functions of ABA with respect to
stolon elongation, tuber initiation, and tuber growth are not clear.
Most of the data concerning GA levels obtained from potato come
from the determination of endogenous GA-like substances by bioassays
(Okazawa, 1959
, 1960
; Smith and Rappaport, 1960
, 1969
; Boo, 1961
;
Rappaport and Smith, 1962
; Racca and Tizio, 1968
; Pont Lezica, 1970
;
Railton and Wareing, 1973
). These reports described the determination
of GA activity in leaves, roots, sprouts, and mature and resting tubers
of potato. However, they did not present information about GA levels in
the tuber-forming stolon, and the various types of GAs could not be
identified with bioassays. In addition, the data might be unreliable
because of the interference of acidic growth inhibitors (Jones et al.,
1988
). Because the concentration of GAs in plants can be extremely low,
especially in vegetative parts, a highly sensitive detection method,
combined GC-MS, is used more frequently for the precise analysis of
GAs. Jones et al. (1988)
applied GC-MS to determine the levels of GAs in mature tubers. They detected GA20 and
GA1 in sprouts of potato tubers, but their
interest and data were mainly focused on the GA-analysis technique.
GA1 was detected by GC-MS in potato leaves, and
higher levels were found in tall plants, as compared with dwarf plants,
only the latter ones tuberizing under long-day conditions (Van den Berg
et al., 1995a
, 1995b
). To our knowledge, there is no report of the
determination of endogenous GA levels during the whole developing
process of tuber formation with GC-MS.
The effects of ABA on potato tuberization have been investigated with a
number of experiments. El-Antably et al. (1967)
observed a stimulation
of tuber formation by ABA applied to the leaves of long-day-grown
potato plants. Wareing and Jennings (1980)
found that ABA can replace
the effect of the leaf by promoting tuberization in induced cuttings.
The promoting effect of exogenous ABA was also demonstrated by the
increasing numbers of tubers (Abdullah and Ahmad, 1980
), the earlier
initiation of tubers, and the formation of sessile tubers (Menzel,
1980
). However, other reports described inhibition of tuberization by
ABA, with the effect depending on concentration and variety (Palmer and
Smith 1969b
; Hussey and Stacey, 1984
). The analysis of endogenous ABA
showed an increase of ABA level under tuber-inducing conditions (Krauss
and Marschner, 1982
) and a reduction of ABA content when N was supplied
during tuber formation (Marschner et al., 1984
). Further studies are needed to clarify the conflicting data concerning the effect of ABA on
tuberization.
In contrast to GA and ABA, less attention has been paid to cytokinins
and IAA. Palmer and Smith (1969a)
first reported an increase of the
tuberization frequency on various cytokinin-containing media. Their
observation was supported by further investigations of exogenous
cytokinins (Kumar and Wareing, 1974
; Hussey and Stacey, 1984
). The
level of endogenous cytokinins was high in the induced tissue (Mauk and
Langille, 1978
) and also during the later stage of tuber growth
(Obata-Sasamoto and Suzuki, 1979
). However, exogenous cytokinins may
also convert a stolon into a leaf-bearing shoot (Kumar and Wareing,
1972
). Harmey et al. (1966)
observed that IAA treatment induced larger
tubers at an earlier stage, whereas Obata-Sasamoto and Suzuki (1979)
reported that the auxin content was high in the stage before tuber
initiation and decreased during tuber development.
In addition to hormones, the level of sugars in the medium, notably
Suc, also affects tuberization in vitro (Lawrence and Barker, 1963
).
However, not much is known about a possible interaction between
hormonal and nutritional regulation of tuber formation.
In this study we used a well-defined tuberization system, culturing
single-node cuttings in vitro. Uniform growth of stolons and tubers was
obtained under tuber-inducing and -noninducing conditions by varying
the level of Suc in the medium. The possible roles of GA and ABA were
assessed in two ways: by applying these regulators to the culture
medium and by measuring endogenous levels under inducing and
noninducing conditions using GC-MS. In addition, the effects of
exogenous cytokinins and auxin were determined.
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
In Vitro Culture of Single-Node Cuttings
Single-node cuttings from short-day-grown potato (Solanum
tuberosum L. var Bintje) plants were cultured in vitro,
essentially as described by Hendriks et al. (1991)
. The basal medium
consisted of a modified Murashige and Skoog (1962)
medium with
one-tenth of the standard concentration of nitrate salts (169 mg
L
1
NH4NO3 and 190 mg
L
1 KNO3), and was
solidified with 0.8% (w/v) agar. This basal medium was
supplemented with Suc or hormones as desired.
Exogenous Hormones and Suc Treatments
The hormones were applied to the medium after filter
sterilization. The standard concentration of
GA4/7 for a noninducing treatment was 0.5 µM. In a separate experiment, the following series of
GA4/7 concentrations was added to the medium: 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.1, and 0.3 to 1.0 µM. The exogenously added
GA4/7 did not contain detectable amounts of
GA1. The concentrations used for ABA, IAA, and BA
in the medium were 3.8 µM (1 µg
mL
1), 5.7 µM (1 µg
mL
1), and 5 µM, respectively.
Tuber development was also tested in hormone-free medium supplemented
with Suc in various concentrations that ranged from 1 to 8% (w/v). The
growth of the developing buds was observed daily by measuring the
lengths of the stolons and the widths of the tubers and by determining
the frequency of tuberization. The data for each culture condition are
the averages collected from about 20 uniformly grown tubers or stolons.
Determination of Endogenous GA and ABA Levels
Samples were harvested at d 0, 2, 4, 5, and 10 in treatments with
1% Suc, 8% Suc, or 8% Suc plus 0.5 µM
GA4/7. Whole developing buds were excised from
the cuttings and analyzed. Stolon tips, generally less than 1 cm in
length (including the apical region, subapical region, and young
leaves), and the elongated parts of the stolons were separately
analyzed at d 4 and 10. Tubers and the elongated parts of the stolons
grown on tuber-inducing medium were separately analyzed at d 10. After
the samples were cut they were immediately placed in vials cooled on
ice. Within 45 min, the samples were frozen in liquid
N2 and stored at
80°C.
For each sample, at least 0.3 g fresh weight was used. Every
sample included 10 to 200 developing buds, depending on the
developmental stage. The samples were homogenized in liquid
N2. Then, 200 mL of 80% methanol was added
together with 0.25 g of ascorbic acid to prevent oxidation
reactions during the extraction. The homogenate was stirred overnight
at 4°C. The insoluble material was removed first by centrifugation at
18,000g for 30 min and then by filtration with a no. 4 glass
filter.
Internal standard GAs (1 mL each of 100 ng/mL
[2H]GA1,
[2H]GA4, and
[2H]GA9 from Dr. L.N.
Mander, Canberra, Australia) were added to the filtrate. Two hundred
and fifty microliters of [3H]ABA (35,000 dpm)
and approximately 0.1 ng of
[3H]GA1,
[3H]GA4, and
[3H]GA9 (specific
activity 3000-4000 Bq ng
1) containing 420 Bq
of each GA were added, and radioactivity was checked at successive
steps to monitor the loss of GAs and ABA during purification. The
amount of tritiated tracer added was less than 5% of the amount in the
samples, and no correction was made. The aqueous methanol was
evaporated under reduced pressure at 35°C. The residue was dissolved
in 15 mL of water and adjusted to pH 8.0. The sample was washed with
petroleum ether (3 times 50 mL) to remove lipids, fats, pigments, etc.
The aqueous sample was then poured onto a PVP column to remove acidic
impurities. The sample was adjusted to pH 2.5 and partitioned against
ethyl acetate.
The ethyl acetate fraction containing the free GAs and ABA was
partitioned against 5% sodium bicarbonate to leave the neutral compounds in ethyl acetate. Then the sodium bicarbonate solution with
the free GAs and ABA was partitioned against ethyl acetate again and
dried. The residue was dissolved in 10 mL of water, adjusted to pH 8.0, and applied onto a 5-cm-long QAE-Sephadex A-25 (Pharmacia) column that
had been equilibrated with 1% sodium formate at pH 8.0. Neutral
impurities were washed off with water (70 mL). The GAs and ABA were
eluted with 0.2 M formic acid (20 mL) and loaded onto a
C18 Sep-Pak cartridge (Waters), which was prewashed with 5 mL of diethyl ether, 5 mL of methanol, and 10 mL of
water. After the cartridge was washed with 2 mM acetic acid plus 1% methanol (10 mL), GAs and ABA were eluted with 5 mL of 80%
methanol. The aqueous methanol solution was completely evaporated at
35°C under low pressure. Up to this stage, GAs and ABA were purified
together.
HPLC was used to separate GAs and ABA into different fractions. The
sample was dissolved in 1 mL of 30% methanol and injected onto a
Chromsphere C18 column (Chrompack, Middleburg,
The Netherlands) and eluted with a linear gradient of methanol
(10-70%), containing 0.01% acetic acid, at a flow rate of 4 mL/min.
The retention times of various GAs and ABA were determined by
monitoring the elution of standards at 210 nm. The retention times were
19.0 to 21.0 min for GA1, 28.5 to 30.5 min for
GA20, 31.5 to 33.5 min for
GA4, and 34.5 to 36.5 min for
GA9. The retention time of ABA was 24.0 to 26.0 min. The collected fractions were methylated with excess ethereal
diazomethane and fractionated again using the same HPLC system and
gradient. The retention times shifted 2 to 3 min for each fraction.
Putative methyl-GA- and methyl-ABA-containing fractions were collected.
The dried fractions were trimethylsilylated with Deriva-sil (15 µL,
Chrompack, Raritan, NJ) at 70°C for 10 min. Derivatized samples were
analyzed using a GC-MS system (model 5970, Hewlett-Packard). Samples
(4-5 µL) were injected into an Ultra-1-fused silica capillary column
(Hewlett-Packard; cross-linked methyl silicone gum; 25-m × 0.2-mm × 0.33-µm film thickness) at an oven temperature of
70°C with the injector splitter closed. After 45 s the splitter
was opened, and 2 min later the oven temperature was increased at a
rate of 30°C min
1 to 250°C and then at a
rate of 4°C min
1 to 300°C and held at that
temperature for 9.5 min. The injector and the interface temperature
were 250 and 290°C, respectively. After 12 min, mass spectra were
acquired by scanning from 200 to 600 or by selected ion monitoring
using the following ions: for GA1, ions 506 and
508; for GA4, ions 284, 286, 418, and 420; for
GA9, ions 298 and 330; and for
GA20, ions 418 and 420. For GA and ABA
identification, the Kovats retention index values were determined with
a paraffin series for the Ultra-1 column. The spectra were compared
with pure standards or to published spectra (Gaskin and MacMillan,
1991
). For quantification, corrected calibration curves were made for
each GA by isotope-dilution analysis.
 |
RESULTS |
Effects of Suc and Exogenous Hormones on Tuber Formation
The tuber-inducing treatment (culture medium with 8% Suc)
resulted in tubers, and noninducing treatments (culture medium with 1%
Suc, or 8% Suc plus GA) resulted in stolon formation during the
10 d of culture (Fig. 1, A-C).
Under tuber-inducing conditions, the stolons ceased growth at d 5 when
tuber formation started, whereas the stolons continued to elongate
under noninducing conditions.

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| Figure 1.
(Continued from facing page.)
Photographs showing development of single-node cuttings of potato
plants grown in vitro on various media after 10 d of culture. Each
photograph, except D, shows one to five representative cuttings for a
culture condition. A, Tuber-inducing treatment with 8% Suc in the
nutrient medium. B, Noninducing treatment with 1% Suc. C, Noninducing
treatment with 8% Suc plus 0.5 µM GA4/7. D,
A series of Suc concentrations: 8, 6, 4, 2, and 1% from left to right. E, 8% Suc plus 0.01 µM GA4/7. F, 8% Suc
plus 0.03 µM GA4/7. G, 8% Suc plus 0.1 µM GA4/7. H, 8% Suc plus 0.3 µM GA4/7. I, 8% Suc plus 1.0 µM GA4/7. J, Formation of secondary stolons
after transfer of the cuttings from 8% Suc medium to 8% Suc plus
GA4/7 medium at d 5 (the bottom cutting) or at d 10 (the
two top cuttings) and further culture for 5 d. K, Formation of
secondary tubers by transferring cuttings first from 8% Suc medium to
8% Suc plus GA4/7 medium at d 5 and then back to 8% Suc
medium at d 10 and further culturing for 5 d. The short arrow
points to the first tuber and the long arrow points to a secondary one.
L, 8% Suc plus ABA. M, 8% Suc plus IAA. N, 1% Suc plus ABA; arrow
indicates the short stolon. O, 1% Suc plus IAA. P, 8% Suc plus
GA4/7 plus ABA. Q, 8% Suc plus GA4/7 plus IAA.
R, 8% Suc (top line) and 8% Suc plus BA (bottom line).
|
|
Suc
When the medium contained 2% Suc or less, no tubers were formed
during the 10-d observation period. When the Suc concentration was
increased beyond 2%, tuberization increased in a
Suc-concentration-dependent manner (Fig.
2A). Swelling was observed at d 5 in 4, 6 and 8% Suc medium. Only 8% Suc medium resulted in a high (80%)
frequency of tubers at d 5. At d 10, both 6 and 8% Suc medium resulted
in 100% tuberization, whereas the 4% Suc medium gave only 75%
tuberization (for overview, see Fig. 1D). The final size of the tubers
in 8% Suc medium was larger than that of the tubers grown in 4 and 6% Suc medium (Fig. 2B). The final length of stolons decreased with increasing Suc level, except with 1% Suc (Figs. 1D and 2B). Stolon elongation stopped as soon as tubers were formed under 4, 6, and 8%
Suc conditions (data not shown).

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| Figure 2.
Effects of a series of Suc concentrations on
potato tuber formation in hormone-free medium. Data are based on 20 single-node cuttings for each Suc concentration. A, Tuberization
frequency during 10 d of culture. B, Average stolon or tuber width
( ) and stolon length ( ) at d 10 at various Suc concentrations.
Bars indicate SEs when exceeding the size of the
points.
|
|
GA
A series of GA4/7 concentrations, ranging
from 0.01 to 1 µM, was applied in the 8% Suc medium to
determine the influence of different GA levels on tuberization. With
increasing GA4/7 concentration, tuberization was
delayed, reduced, and became less synchronous (Fig.
3A). At 0.3 µM
GA4/7 some tubers formed at d 14, whereas at 1 µM GA4/7 no tubers were formed at
all up to d 20 (data not shown). At d 10, both tuber widths and stolon
lengths were measured at various concentrations of
GA4/7. With increasing concentration, tuber width
decreased from 0.8 to 0.2 cm, whereas stolon length increased. Normally
shaped tubers were formed in the absence of GA4/7
(Fig. 1A) or at low-GA4/7 (0.01-0.03
µM) conditions (Fig. 1, E and F). Abnormal tubers with
various shapes were produced at higher-GA4/7 (0.1 and 0.3 µM) conditions, and they were much smaller (Fig.
1, G and H). Long stolons without tubers developed in the medium with 1 µM GA4/7 (Fig. 1I).

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| Figure 3.
A, Effects of a series of GA4/7
concentrations on tuber formation. Data are based on 20 single-node
cuttings. B, Tuberization frequency on medium with 3.7 µM
ABA supplemented with a series of Suc concentrations. C, Tuberization
frequencies on media with 8% Suc plus 3.7 µM ABA (closed
symbols) and on media with 8% Suc without ABA (open symbols),
supplemented with various concentrations of GA4/7.
|
|
A transfer experiment was done to further analyze the effect of GA on
stolon elongation and tuber formation. Cuttings were grown on medium
with 8% Suc without GA for 5 d. When stolon tips swelled to form
small tubers, the cuttings were transferred to medium with 8% Suc plus
0.5 µM GA4/7. Two days later,
stolons developed from the apical region of the young tubers. The tuber size remained unchanged during further culture (Fig. 1J, bottom cutting). These cuttings with tubers and secondary stolons were transferred back to the medium with 8% Suc without
GA4/7 at d 10. New tubers were formed at the
stolon tips at approximately d 14 (Fig. 1K).
When a developing bud was transferred before tuber formation from 8%
Suc to 8% Suc plus GA medium, i.e. before d 5, that stolon continued to elongate (data not
ABA, IAA, and BA
The effects of ABA and IAA were analyzed by adding these
regulators to tuber-inducing medium (8% Suc) or to two noninducing media (1% Suc or 8% Suc plus GA). Tuber formation occurred at d 4 in
both ABA- and IAA-containing inducing media, which is 1 d earlier
than in the absence of ABA or IAA. From the six noninducing media
tested, only the 1% Suc plus ABA condition resulted in high frequencies of tubers from d 8 onward. The final size of 8% Suc plus
ABA-grown tubers was approximately the same as that of 8% Suc-grown
tubers, whereas 8% Suc plus IAA-grown tubers were about 25% smaller
than 8% Suc-grown tubers (Fig. 1, L and M). The tubers formed on
medium with 1% Suc plus ABA were very small (Fig. 1N). Under inducing
conditions, the elongation of stolons was severely inhibited by ABA and
IAA treatments, leading to almost 100% sessile tubers (Fig. 1, cf. A,
L, and M). In 1% Suc medium, ABA also decreased stolon length (Fig.
1N). The combination of 1% Suc and IAA completely blocked the growth
of the lateral buds (Fig. 1O) and callus formed around the lower cut
surface of the cuttings. Under the 8% Suc plus GA-noninducing
condition, ABA did not influence stolon elongation very much (Fig. 1P),
whereas IAA retarded and decreased the elongation of the lateral buds
(Fig. 1Q). No clear effect of BA was observed when added either to
inducing medium (Fig. 1R) or to the two noninducing media (data not
shown).
The effect of ABA was studied further by treating cuttings with a
series of Suc concentrations at a constant ABA level. In contrast to
the experiment with various Suc concentrations without ABA (Fig. 2A),
100% tuberization occurred at all concentrations of Suc when ABA was
added to the media (Fig. 3B). The inhibiting effect of GA could partly
be overcome by the addition of ABA to the medium (Fig. 3C).
Determination of Endogenous GA and ABA Levels under Tuber-Inducing
and -Noninducing Conditions
Biological variation and technical detection limits hamper the
accurate determination of plant hormones in developing potato tubers
grown in vitro. Within a series of experiments 10 to 200 developing
buds had to be collected in one sample to obtain detectable quantities
of hormones and to average the hormone levels in each developmental
stage. Pooling of developing buds was necessary, because tubers were
formed on stolons of various lengths within a given treatment.
Variation in levels of endogenous hormones also occurred between series
of experiments done under the same environmental conditions but at
different times of the year. The variation might be due to differences
in the population of cuttings at the onset of culture, although much
care was taken to make the starting material as uniform as possible by
culture under controlled environmental conditions. Although absolute
levels of hormones differed between experiments, changes in the levels of GA and ABA showed the same trends in successive experiments; therefore, such experiments are considered successful replicates, which
should not be averaged.
GA
Starting with 1 g fresh weight, GA1,
GA4, GA9, and
GA20 were detected in the samples of two
independent experiments. To our knowledge, this is the first time that
GA4 and GA9 have been
detected in potato tissue. The numerical values for these GAs were as
follows: for GA4,
M+418(20), 289(29), 284(100), 225(75), and
224(85); for GA9,
M+330(15), 298(100), 270(68), 243(46), and
227(42). Table I shows the levels of the
four GAs detected in the developing buds of the first experiment. Three
stages were analyzed under both tuber-inducing and -noninducing
conditions: resting buds at d 0, developing buds at d 5, and mature
stolons with or without tubers at d 10. The level of
GA20 was always much lower than that of the other
GAs. It was even undetectable in the samples from the 8% Suc
condition. GA4 and GA9
levels were low and did not show obvious changes during development and
between the treatments. The level of GA1 was
always the highest and it varied significantly in different treatments and between sampling times. Therefore, it was analyzed in detail in a
subsequent experiment.
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|
Table I.
Contents of GA1, GA20,
GA4, GA9, and ABA in axillary buds of
single-node cuttings of potato grown in vitro on various media
|
|
The same qualitative differences in GA1 levels
were observed in the second series of experiments. At d 5 and 10, GA1 levels were highest in stolons grown at 1%
Suc and 3- to 6-fold lower in tubers developing on 8% Suc medium (Fig.
4A). Comparing tuber-inducing (8% Suc)
and -noninducing (1% Suc) conditions, it appeared that the level of
GA1 increased more than 5-fold during the first
2 d of culture in both treatments (Fig. 4A). This coincided with the onset of stolon formation. The level remained high under
noninducing conditions, whereas it sharply decreased in the inducing
treatment at d 4, i.e. 1 d before visible swelling. It decreased
further at d 5 and remained low thereafter. In another noninducing
treatment (8% plus GA4/7), the endogenous level
of GA1 increased gradually until d 5 and then
slightly decreased, reaching an intermediate level at d 10.

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| Figure 4.
Endogenous contents of GA1 and ABA
during the development of axillary buds of potato under one
tuber-inducing condition (medium with 8% Suc) and two noninducing
conditions (media with 1% Suc or 8% Suc plus 0.5 µM
GA4/7). Data were obtained from 10 to 200 cuttings per
sample. A, GA1 content. B, ABA content.
|
|
Comparing the two experiments, a similar pattern of the changing
GA1 levels was obtained, although the absolute
levels varied between the two experiments.
ABA
Endogenous ABA levels were determined in resting buds at d 0 and
in stolons or tubers at d 5 and 10 in the first experiment (Table I)
and at d 0, 2, 5, and 10 in a second series of sampling (Fig. 4B). The
endogenous ABA level was highest in the resting bud, and it decreased
during bud development, irrespective of the culture conditions and the
type of organ formed. Although the trend of decrease was noticed in
both experiments, the initial concentration of ABA was higher in the
first series of experiments, but at d 10 it had decreased to the same
level as found in the second experiment.
Localization of GA1 Content in Developing Stolons
and Tubers
In previous research, we observed that longitudinal cell divisions
resulting in swelling occur in the subapical region of stolons under
the inducing condition. Under the noninducing conditions, the cell
divisions in this area were transverse, leading to further elongation
of the stolon. Therefore, this apical area of the stolon, including the
subapical part, was analyzed separately to test whether GA was
uniformly distributed over the stolon or localized in specific areas.
At d 4, which was 1 d before visible swelling, the
GA1 level in the stolon tip for all three culture
conditions (8% Suc, 1% Suc, and 8% Suc plus GA) was much higher than
the average GA1 level in the whole stolon (Fig.
5A). Comparing the three conditions, the
stolon tips contained high GA1 levels in the 1%
Suc- and 8% Suc plus GA4/7-noninducing
conditions and a low GA1 level in the inducing
condition (8% Suc). The latter one would start swelling 1 d
later. At d 10, tubers and stolons in the 8% Suc-inducing condition
both had much lower levels of GA1 than those
grown in the two noninducing conditions (Fig. 5B). Stolons grown in the 1% Suc-noninducing condition showed a high level of
GA1 in the tip and a relatively low
GA1 level in the elongated part of the stolon. In
the 8% Suc plus GA4/7 treatment, the stolon tip
had almost the same GA1 level as found in the
elongated part of the stolon.

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| Figure 5.
Localization of GA1 in various regions
of developing stolons of potato cuttings cultured under tuber-inducing
(8% Suc) and -noninducing conditions (1% Suc and 8% Suc plus
GA4/7) at d 4 (A) and at d 10 (B). The data inside of the
drawings indicate GA1 concentrations (ng g 1)
in those regions. The data in the boxes above the drawings are derived
from Figure 4 and represent GA1 levels (ng
g 1) in the whole developing stolon. Data are averages of
duplicate measurements on samples from a single series of experiments,
unless the amount of tissue was insufficient for replication.
|
|
 |
DISCUSSION |
GAs
Although several reports have been published concerning the
quantitative analysis of endogenous GAs in potato plants by bioassays (Okazawa, 1959
, 1960
; Racca and Tizio, 1968
; Smith and Rappaport, 1969
;
Pont Lezica, 1970
; Railton and Wareing, 1973
; Kumar and Wareing, 1974
;
Krauss and Marschner, 1982
) and more recently by chemical methods
(Jones et al., 1988
), our study is the first one to our knowledge to
apply analysis with GC-MS to quantify endogenous GAs during various
stages of stolon elongation and tuber formation under tuber-inducing
and non-tuber-inducing conditions. GA1,
GA20, GA4, and
GA9 were detected in small tissue samples. GA4 and GA9 concentrations
did not change significantly during the development of stolons and
tubers, whereas the content of GA20 was too low
to observe possible changes. The significant variation of the
GA1 level during the development of stolons under non-tuber-inducing conditions and tubers under tuber-inducing conditions supports the view that GA1 is the
biologically active GA in this process (Phinney and Spray, 1982
). The
GA1 content was high during the elongation of
stolons and became very low during the development of tubers. More
clearly, the obvious decrease of GA1 content
occurring between d 2 and 4, which is well before visible swelling
under the inducing condition, strongly suggests a regulating role of
GA1 on tuber formation. The continuously low
level of GA1 during the whole process of tuber
enlargement also suggests that tuber growth is only permitted at low
levels of GA1. Induction and growth of tubers
might occur only when the GA1 content is below a
critical level.
It could be argued that tuberization causes the change in GA levels
rather than vice versa. However, the timing of both processes favors a
prime role for GA. Moreover, studies with GA-synthesis inhibitors (Perl
et al., 1991
; Vreugdenhil et al., 1994
), as well as analysis of
GA-deficient lines (Van den Berg et al., 1995b
), also point to a
crucial role of GA in regulating tuber formation.
The prominent role of endogenous GA on tuberization was supported
further by observations of the effects of GA4/7
in the medium on the development of the axillary buds of the cuttings.
Increasing concentrations of exogenous GA4/7
progressively inhibited tuber initiation, reduced the final size of the
tubers, and stimulated stolon elongation.
In a previous study we observed that, depending on the presence or
absence of GA in the medium, cell division in the subapical region of
developing stolons is either transverse, resulting in further
elongation of the stolon, or longitudinal, leading to tuber formation
(Xu et al., 1998
). Therefore, we hypothesized that this region is
especially sensitive to GA. This idea is supported by the results of
the transfer experiments (Fig. 1, J and K): applying or removing GA
switches elongation of the stolons on and off by acting on the apical
meristematic region, leaving the more basal parts of the developing
axillary bud unaltered. To further test this hypothesis we also
analyzed GA1 levels in various parts of
developing buds separately. The GA level was much higher in the stolon
tip than in the basal part of the stolon; it was also higher in the
young stolon tip than in the mature stolon tip, whereas it was
extremely low in the swelling tuber. The changes in
GA1 levels, as induced by culture conditions,
were much more extreme in the apical part than in the rest of the
stolon. As stated by Brent Loy (1977)
, GA promotes cell division and
cell elongation in the subapical meristem. High GA levels might keep the transversal cortical microtubular cytoskeleton stable so that cells
in the subapical region divide transversally, and cell elongation will
hence result in stolon elongation. Low GA levels cause reorientation of
cortical microtubules to longitudinal or oblique directions and then
allow the cells in the subapical region to enlarge and divide
longitudinally, leading to the swelling of the tuber (Shibaoka, 1993
;
Sanz et al., 1996
).
ABA
Similar to effects of ABA described for whole plants (Menzel,
1980
), we also observed a stimulation of tuber formation in vitro.
Tuber formation in ABA-containing 8% Suc medium started earlier than
the tuber formation in ABA-free 8% Suc medium, and sessile tubers or
tubers on very short stolons were formed. Furthermore, the stimulating
effect of ABA on tuberization was concluded from the fact that
application of ABA in the 1% Suc medium significantly promoted the
initiation and the frequency of tuber formation. Also, addition of ABA
to 8% Suc medium supplemented with a series of concentrations of GAs
showed antagonism between GA and ABA. The morphology of the tubers
formed in the presence of ABA always resembled "normal" in vitro
tubers, and no signs of abnormalities, as observed in the presence of
ethylene, were seen (Catchpole and Hillman, 1969
). Our results support
the view that exogenously applied ABA promotes tuber formation in
potatoes (Okazawa and Chapman, 1962
; El-Antably et al., 1967
; Abdullah
and Ahmad, 1980
; Menzel, 1980
; Wareing and Jennings, 1980
) and that it
is an inhibitor of stolon elongation (Palmer and Smith, 1969b
;
Marschner et al., 1984
). However, the effects of applied ABA are
dependent on variety, concentration, and interaction with cytokinins
(Palmer and Smith, 1969b
; Hussey and Stacey,
1984
).
Analysis of endogenous ABA levels showed that the levels decreased
during the first 2 d of culture for all three treatments (8% Suc,
1% Suc, and 8% Suc plus GA) and remained low from d 5 to 10. No
differences were detected among the three treatments. Hence, we
conclude that ABA is not likely to be the main regulator of tuber
formation. The effect of exogenous ABA, as observed here and in other
experiments (Krauss and Marschner, 1982
), is proposed to be due to an
antagonistic effect between ABA and GA. Alternatively, exogenously
applied ABA might stimulate tuber formation by inhibiting stolon
elongation, a prerequisite for tuber formation (Vreugdenhil and Struik,
1989
).
Cytokinins and IAA
The hormones cytokinin and IAA were tested under both
tuber-inducing and -noninducing conditions. Cytokinins are considered to be tuber-inducing factors, according to the promoting effect of
exogenous cytokinins (Palmer and Smith, 1969a
; Kumar and Wareing, 1974
;
Hussey and Stacey, 1984
) and the high level of endogenous cytokinins in
induced tissue (Mauk and Langille, 1978
; Obata-Sasamoto and Suzuki,
1979
). However, in the experimental system we used, no significant
effects of cytokinins on morphogenesis were detected under inducing or
noninducing conditions. This implies that cytokinins are not a limiting
factor for tuber formation in the present model system. A similar
conclusion, with cytokinins being less important in regulating tuber
formation than GA, can be deduced from Dimalla and van Staden (1977).
The application of IAA in the tuber-inducing medium led to earlier
tuber initiation, as also mentioned by Harmey et al. (1966)
. Contrary
to their observation, slightly smaller tubers were formed, which were
all sessile. In the presence of GA, addition of IAA resulted in much
shorter stolons than found under GA conditions alone. The growth of the
lateral buds of the cuttings was totally blocked with the application
of IAA in 1% Suc medium. Thus, it seems that IAA has a significant
negative effect on elongation under both tuber-inducing and
-noninducing conditions. We assume that this inhibition of tuber
formation is due to the well-known effect of stimulation of ethylene
production by IAA, which in turn reduces stolon elongation (Vreugdenhil
and van Dijk, 1989
). IAA would, therefore, indirectly favor tuber
formation by blocking stolon elongation and counteracting effects of
endogenous GA.
Interaction between Suc and Hormones
Similar to the results obtained by Lawrence and Barker (1963)
, we
found no tuber formation with low Suc concentrations (0-2%), slow
development of tubers with 4 to 6% Suc, and rapid initiation and
growth of tubers with 8% Suc. It is clear that, by comparing the
experiments with a series of Suc concentrations and a series of GA
concentrations (Figs. 1, D and E-I, 2A, and 3A), a gradual decrease of
stolon length and an increase of tuberization were correlated with both
the increase of Suc concentration and the decrease of GA concentration
in the medium. Therefore, we assume that either GA regulates endogenous
Suc levels or vice versa. A recent study showed that the application of
GA to 8% Suc medium did not significantly alter endogenous Suc levels
in early stages of tuberization (D. Vreugdenhil, unpublished data). In
the present study the determination of the endogenous GA contents
revealed that the GA level was much higher in the noninducing condition with 1% Suc than in the tuber-inducing condition with 8% Suc. The
difference occurred during stolon elongation and tuber formation. It
indicates that the endogenous GA level was highly dependent on Suc
concentrations. Park (1990)
reported that Suc induced the expression of
tuber-specific genes and that the sensitivity toward Suc was modulated
by GA. The interaction between Suc and GA in tuber formation was
also studied by Mares et al. (1981)
. They detected an increasing level
of reducing sugars with the application of GA. It was suggested that
GAs may reduce the starch-synthesizing capacity by a marked reduction
in the activity of ADP-Glc-pyrophosphorylase.
Contrary to GA, the endogenous ABA levels did not vary under both 8%
and 1% Suc conditions. This is in agreement with the report by Van den
Berg et al. (1991)
, in which it was pointed out that changes in
carbohydrate levels were not triggered by a change in ABA levels. These
data support the hypothesis that Suc acts as a regulator by influencing
endogenous GA levels during tuber formation.
In conclusion, it is clear that GA is a dominant regulator, responding
to the environmental conditions and controlling all steps of tuber
formation, as a stimulus in stolon elongation and an inhibitor in both
tuber initiation and growth. Other plant hormones are assumed to be
involved in the regulation of tuber formation as well; however, their
effects seem to depend on the final GA content in the tissues. ABA
functions as an antagonist of GAs, and Suc regulates tuber formation by
changing the GA level of the developing stolons and tubers.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
This work was supported by grants from the Royal
Dutch Academy of Sciences and from the Graduate School Experimental
Plant Sciences to X.X.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail dick.vreugdenhil{at}algem.pf.wau.nl;
fax 31-317-484740.
Received November 6, 1997;
accepted March 6, 1998.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank Wilma Pons-Drexhage and Jan Vos for their assistance
with the in vitro cultures, Henk Kieft for technical assistance with
the morphological investigations, and Sijbout Massalt and Allex
Haasdijk for photography and art work.
 |
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