โ Scribed by Philip A. Rea; F. R. Whatley
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Simple kinetic techniques were used to examine the mechanism of D-alanine uptake by the adaxial surfaces of the trap lobes of Dionaea muscipula Ellis (Venus's Flytrap.) On the basis of these analyses, the uptake of D-alanine was found to depend on the time during which the trap lobes were inoculated with elicitors of secretion before excision and measurement of uptake. Disks taken from traps that had not been subjected to a preceding period of inoculation with secretion elicitors showed a low basal rate of uptake which was neither pH-dependent nor exhibited saturation with respect to external D-alanine concentration. Disks from preinoculated traps, on the other hand, displayed an enhanced rate of uptake which showed both pH-dependence and saturation with respect to external D-alanine concentration. The capacity for enhanced uptake was lost upon prolonged inoculation or when inoculation was stopped. Of the compounds tested, only elicitors of secretion caused an enhancement of uptake. The enhanced rate of D-alanine uptake is temperature-sensitive with a Qlo characteristic of a mediated process. Uncouplers cause an instantaneous abolition of uptake whereas the effects of terminal-oxidase inhibitors are time-dependent. The pH-dependence of uptake is inferred to result from an increased affinity of the carrier system for D-alanine at low pH values. Although the ionic state of D-alanine is relatively unaffected over the pH range examined, a decrease in the external pH from 6.0 to 3.8 decreases the apparent K m for uptake by four-
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