An increase in the “inhibitor-β” content of detached wheat leaves following a period of wilting
✍ Scribed by S. T. C. Wright
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Year
- 1969
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 599 KB
- Volume
- 86
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0032-0935
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✦ Synopsis
Wheat seedlings were grown under a 14-hour photoperiod and the first leaves excised at the end of the eighth dark period. The effect of treatments causing wilting on the "inhibitor-fl" content of such leaves was studied.
When leaves were rapidly wilted (i.e. to a 6% fresh weight loss) and extracted immediately, the amount of "inhibitor-fl" per leaf was found to be the same as in fresh turgid leaves. However, when the leaves were maintained in a wilted condition in darkness for a period of 110 minutes, there was a marked increase in "inhibitor-fi" content.
The greater the degree of wilting (i.e. up to about a 9 % loss in fl'esh weight) the greater the eventual "inhibitor-fl" content. Moreover, the increment in "inhibitor-fl" was shown to be temperature dependent.
The time lapse requirement and the temperature dependency of the "inhibitor-fl" formation suggest an enzymic conversion from a precursor.
If a similar phenomenon occurs during the wilting of intact plants then the increase in this growth inhibitor might play a role in some of the physiological changes which accompany water stress.