Characterization of drought resistance in a wild relative of wheat, Triticum kotschyi.

Wild relatives of wheat have served as a genetic source for economically useful traits. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying such traits may be useful in the genetic transfer and selection processes. Research was undertaken to compare the effects of controlled water stress on photosynthetic parameters in Triticum kotschyi, a drought resistant wild wheat and Triticum aestivum cv. Lakhish, a drought sensitive wheat cultivar. During stress development, the leaf water potential decreased at a slower rate, and the quantum yield of oxygen evolution, measured photoacoustically in vivo, decreased to a smaller extent in the drought resistant wild wheat than in the wheat cultivar. The decrease in quantum yield at water potentials from -0.9 Mpa down to -2.3 Mpa was not accompanied by damage to PS II reaction centers as there was no change in variable fluorescence. Below -2.3 Mpa the fluorescence yield of both species decreased indicating loss of intrinsic efficiency of PS II. The osmotic potential of cell sap was found to decrease at the same rate in both species at high hydration states. Proline accumulated to a much greater extent in the wild wheat as compared to the cultivated wheat as a result of water stress. Drought resistance was also examined in relation to thylakoid membrane fluidity measured by fluorescence polarization. Thylakoid membrane fluidity was fully maintained in the wild wheat, but decreased substantially in the wheat cultivar, at equal tissue water potentials below -1.9 Mpa. One mechanism for maintaining the higher quantum yield of oxygen evolution during severe stress (at water potentials below -1.9 Mpa), may involve the greater stability of thylakoid membrane fluidity in the wild wheat.

Effect of nitrogen nutrition on endosperm protein synthesis in wild and cultivated barley grown in spike culture.

In normal growth conditions, total protein percent (salt soluble plus hordein fractions) in the endosperm at maturity in barley cultivar Hordeum vulgare L. cv ;Ruth' was about 14%, whereas in an accession of wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum Koch line 297, it was about 28%. Spike culture experiments were conducted to ascertain whether there were basic differences between the two genotypes under conditions of widely different nitrogen supply. Spikes of each genotype were grown from 8 to 25 days after flowering in in vitro culture in a growth medium containing 0 to 4 grams per liter nitrogen supplied as NH(4)NO(3). Spikes were pulse-labeled at intervals from 12 to 24 days after flowering with 3.7 megabecquerel of [(3)H]leucine to determine relative rates of synthesis of hordein-1 and hordein-2 polypeptides. At low nitrogen levels ;Ruth' had a lower protein content than 297, but at increasing nitrogen levels its protein content increased rapidly and reached a maximum (35%) higher than 297 (30%). The relative contribution of the hordein fraction to total protein increased mainly with time, and hordein-1 to total hordein increased mainly with nitrogen level, in both genotypes. There appeared to be no fundamental limitations in the capacity of ;Ruth' to accumulate protein; 297 appears to have a greater basal level of nitrogen availability under normal conditions.

Quantitation of Chill-Induced Release of a Tubulin-Like Factor and Its Prevention by Abscisic Acid in Gossypium hirsutum L.

The degree of tubulin polymerization in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv Acala) cotyledonary tissue was estimated by radioimmunoassay which measured the amount of a tubulin-like factor. It was assumed that the release of this tubulin-like factor indicated depolymerization of microtubules. Exposure to chilling resulted in complete release of the tubulin-like factor. Pretreatment with abscisic acid in the light almost completely prevented the chill-induced release of the tubulin-like factor. Addition of colchicine during the chilling period accelerated the release of the tubulin-like factor. Pretreatment with abscisic acid greatly reduced this effect of colchicine. It is concluded that the destruction of the microtubular network is involved in the development of chilling injury in cotton. Abscisic acid apparently decreased chilling injury by stabilization of the microtubular network.

Extraction and immunochemical assays of a tubulin-like factor in cotton seedlings.

Antibodies to tubulin were prepared in rabbits by immunization with reduced-carboxymethylated calf-brain tubulin. In immunodiffusion tests the antibodies showed full cross reactivity with the immunogen as well as with native calf-brain tubulin. The same antibodies showed cross reactivity with a factor in extract of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cotyledons but there was no full immunological identity between calf-brain tubulin and this factor. A solid-phase radioimmunoassay for quantitative estimation of this plant tubulin-like factor was developed. It measured the binding of antibodies to immobilized calf-native tubulin. Competition between the unknown soluble tubulin-like factor, and immobilized tubulin was assayed at serum dilution of 1:50. Extraction conditions which preserved the antigenic properties of the tubulin-like factor from cotton cotyledons were defined. The radioimmunoassay measured quantities of the tubulin-like factor in the range of 0.1-10 µg-equivalents of calf-brain tubulin. Immediately after homogenization of the tissue only 25% of the total amount of tubulin-like activity was present in soluble form, while most of it remained in the insoluble fraction. Apparent maximal solubilization was achieved spontaneously 10 h after homogenization or by treatment with guanidine hydrochloride. These results indicate that in this material, tubulin is not released immediately by homogenization but remains assembled in microtubules and-or in a bound or sequestered form.

Satellite-rich DNA in cucumber: hormonal enhancement of synthesis and subcellular identification.

Cucumber hypocotyl DNA in neutral CsCl distributes into a mainband comprising 59% of the total, and two large satellite bands which contribute 41% to the DNA pattern. Organelle enrichment studies show that the densities of mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA coincide with those of the satellite bands. At least 12-19% of total cucumber DNA is associated with the cytoplasmic organelles. These values, which are several times larger than those usually quoted for higher plants, are correlated with an unusually low amount of DNA per haploid nucleus in cucumber. Synthesis of the satellite DNAs, as well as mainband DNA, is appreciably stimulated in vivo by application of the plant hormone, gibberellin. Endogenous and hormone-enhanced synthesis of the satellite DNAs is proportionately greater in target tissue showing a high rate of organelle synthetic activity.

Contents and recovery of gibberellins in monoecious and gynoecious cucumber plants.

Diffusates from seedlings and root exudates from 6-week-old plants of a monoecious line of cucumber, Cucumis sativus L., contained considerably higher levels of gibberellin-(GA-) like substances than did those from plants of an isogenic gynoecious line. Most of the GA-like activity was found in a chromatogram region typical of GA(1) and GA(3); some activity, particularly in root exudates, appeared also at an R(F) similar to that of GA(4) and GA(7).When seedlings were treated with (3)H-labeled GA(1), more radioactivity was found in the diffusates from monoecious seedlings than from gynoecious ones. The same was true of biological activity in root diffusates from older plants which had been treated with gibberellin A(4+7).In conjunction with evidence present in literature, these results support the idea that endogenous GAs play a part in the regulation of sex expression in cucumber, relatively high levels favoring the formation of staminate flowers.