Investigations on the role of ethylene in phytochrome-mediated photomorphogenesis : I. Anthocyanin Synthesis

Phytochrome-controlled ethylene biosynthesis of intact etiolated bean seedlings

Intact etiolated bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Limburgse vroege) seedlings were illuminated with red light (10.5 W·m(-2)) for 10 min. After different time intervals ethylene production, and contents of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) and 1-(malonylamino)cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid were measured. The red-light-induced decrease of ethylene production in 8-d-old intact etiolated bean seedlings was fast, strong and long-lasting ad was mediated through the phytochrome system. This effect appeared to be strictly age-dependent, as it could not be detected in plants younger than 6 d or older than 11 d.The capacity for the conversion of ACC to ethylene was not affected by red light. The inhibitory effect of the light treatment on ethylene production could be related to a reduced free-ACC content. This reduction was a consequence of a temporary non-reversible increase of ACC malonylation and a long-lasting, for a certain time reversible, inhibition of ACC synthesis. The effect of a brief irradiation with red light on the decrease of ethylene production and free-ACC content was completed after about 2 h. Reversibility by far-red, however, persisted for at least 3 h, and was lost between 3 and 6 h.

Coaction of light and cytokinin in photomorphogenesis

Intact mustard seedlings were treated with zeatin and photomorphogenetically active light in different ways: (1) hormone treatment preceding light treatment, (2) light treatment preceding hormone treatment, (3) hormone and light applied simultaneously. Under all experimental conditions the effect of the hormone treatment is multiplicative to the light effect with regard to the increase of cotyledon area. However, the hormone effect is additive to the light effect with regard to increases of the level of NADPH-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.13) and carotenoid contents. Anthocyanin synthesis is inhibited by exogenous zeatin whereby the concentration response curves are similar, irrespective of the extent of anthocyanin formation mediated by light. However, an interaction was found in the sense that the responsiveness toward zeatin is decreased somewhat by the action of phytochrome. Our results show that the responsiveness to light (via the far-red-absorbing form of phytochrome; P fr) is not changed by a preceding or simultaneous hormone treatment. Moreover, the responsiveness of the plant to exogenously applied zeatin is not affected - except in anthocyanin synthesis - by a preceding or simultaneous light treatment. We conclude from our results that the action of phytochrome on the developmental processes is not related to cytokinin levels.

Coaction of three factors controlling chlorophyll and anthocyanin synthesis

In a three-factor analysis the rate of chlorophyll a (Chl) accumulation in excised mustard cotyledons was studied as a function of kinetin, light (operating through phytochrome, P fr) and an excision factor. It was found that the three factors operate additively provided that the P fr level is high enough. When the P fr level is below approximately 1 per cent (ϕλ<0.01) the effectiveness of the excision factor decreases while the effect of kinetin remains additive. The observed additivity is explained by a model where the three factors operate independently through a common intermediate (presumably 5-aminolevulinate) in the biosynthetic chain leading to Chl. With regard to the coaction of the excision factor and phytochrome it is concluded that the production of the excision factor requires the operation of phytochrome (even though saturated at a low P fr level) while the action of the excision factor is independent of phytochrome. This conclusion was confirmed by experiments in which the rate of light-mediated anthocyanin synthesis was measured in excised mustard cotyledons. The effect of excision in the case of anthocyanin formation differs kinetically from the effect of excision on Chl formation.

Hormones are no causal links in phytochrome-mediated adventitious root formation in mustard seedlings (Sinapis alba L.)

The question of whether or not hormones are causal links in the realization of phytochrome control during photomorphogenesis was investigated using the phytochrome-dependent formation of adventitious roots in hypocotyl cuttings excised from mustard seedlings as a test system. Histological examination of regenerating "rest" seedlings revealed that phytochrome (operationally, continuous far-red light) mediates the de novo formation of root primordia in the pericycle region of the hypocotyl near the cutting surface withing 12-24 h after excision.Auxin (IAA), gibberellin (GA3), Cytokinin (kinetin), abscisic acid (ABA), and ethylene had no promotive effect on primordium formation in dark-grown or far-red irradiated rest seedlings. Depending on concentration, the application of these hormones was either ineffective or inhibitory in the rooting response. It is concluded that phytochrome does not operate through changes of hormone (auxin, gibberellin, cytokinin, ABA, ethylene) levels.While externally applied ethylene had no specific effect on primordium formation, the number of primordia produced in darkness could be increased to the far-red light level by removing the endogenously formed ethylene. Since the stimulatory effect of light could not be related to a lower ethylene level, it is concluded that ethylene interferes with primordium formation by modulating the susceptibility of this process to phytochrome control. This ethylene effect takes place in a concentration range below the range that can be manipulated by external application of the hormone.

Investigations on the role of ethylene in phytochrome-mediated photomorphogenesis : II. Enzyme levels and chlorophyll synthesis

The concept (Burg, 1973) that ethylene mediates the action of phytochrome in seedling photomorphogenesis was tested in the intact mustard (Sinapis alba L.) seedling. The effect of exogenous ethylene (100 μl l(-1)) on five distinct, phytochrome-mediated photoresponses of the cotyledons was investigated. It was found that anthocyanin contents (see Bühler et al., 1978) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase levels (EC 4.3.1.5) are strongly reduced by ethylene while the capacity of chlorophyll synthesis is considerably enhanced. Levels of glutathione reductase (EC 1.6.4.2) and pools of photoconvertible protochlorophyll(ide) are unaffected by ethylene. It is concluded that these findings are incompatible with the idea that ethylene plays the role of a mediator in phytochrome-induced photomorphogenesis.