Many plant-associated bacteria synthesize the phytohormone indoleacetic acid (IAA). While IAA produced by phytopathogenic bacteria, mainly by the indoleacetamide pathway, has been implicated in the induction of plant tumors, it is not clear whether IAA synthesized by beneficial bacteria, usually via the indolepyruvic acid pathway, is involved in plant growth promotion. To determine whether bacterial IAA enhances root development in host plants, the ipdc gene that encodes indolepyruvate decarboxylase, a key enzyme in the indolepyruvic acid pathway, was isolated from the plant growth-promoting bacterium Pseudomonas putida GR12-2 and an IAA-deficient mutant constructed by insertional mutagenesis. The canola seedling primary roots from seeds treated with wild-type P. putida GR12-2 were on average 35 to 50% longer than the roots from seeds treated with the IAA-deficient mutant and the roots from uninoculated seeds. In addition, exposing mung bean cuttings to high levels of IAA by soaking them in a suspension of the wild-type strain stimulated the formation of many, very small, adventitious roots. Formation of fewer roots was stimulated by treatment with the IAA-deficient mutant. These results suggest that bacterial IAA plays a major role in the development of the host plant root system.

Role of Pseudomonas putida Indoleacetic Acid in Development of the Host Plant Root System

Polyphenol oxidases in plants

We have developed a new assay that differentiates between indoleacetic acid (IAA)-producing and -nonproducing bacteria on a colony plate lift. Medium supplemented with 5 mM L-tryptophan is inoculated with isolates of interest, overlaid with a nitrocellulose membrane, and then incubated until bacterial colonies reach 1 to 2 mm in diameter. The membrane is removed to a filter paper saturated with Salkowski reagent and incubated until distinct red haloes form around the colonies. The colorimetric reaction to IAA is limited to a region immediately surrounding each colony, is specific to isolates producing IAA, occurs within 1 h after the membrane is placed in the reagent, and is sensitive to as little as 50 pmol of IAA in a 2-mm2 spot. We have used this assay for quantifying epiphytic and endophytic populations of IAA-producing isolates of Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi and for detecting IAA-producing colonies of other pseudomonads and Erwinia herbicola. The assay provides a rapid and convenient method to screen large numbers of bacteria. Images

Rapid In Situ Assay for Indoleacetic Acid Production by Bacteria Immobilized on a Nitrocellulose Membrane

Cytochrome c oxidase is discussed as a possible photoacceptor when cells are irradiated with monochromatic red to near-IR radiation. Four primary action mechanisms are reviewed: changes in the redox properties of the respiratory chain components following photoexcitation of their electronic states, generation of singlet oxygen, localized transient heating of absorbing chromophores, and increased superoxide anion production with subsequent increase in concentration of the product of its dismutation, H2O2. A cascade of reactions connected with alteration in cellular homeostasis parameters (pHi, [Cai], cAMP, Eh, [ATP] and some others) is considered as a photosignal transduction and amplification chain in a cell (secondary mechanisms).

Primary and secondary mechanisms of action of visible to near-IR radiation on cells.

Polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases are among the most studied enzymes in fruits and vegetables. Owing to the deleterious effects of discoloration and off-flavor formation induced by their actions, these enzymes have not ceased to be a matter of concern to food technologists, while their versatility as catalyst and their diversity as protein present a challenge to the biochemist. This article gives an account on the present state of knowledge in this field. The occurrence of polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases in food and food raw materials, and their role and importance in food processing are briefly outlined. Results of biochemical research including catalytic properties, substrate specificity, susceptibility towards pH and temperature, action of inhibitors, isolation, purification, and characteristics of the enzymes are given, with special emphasis on recent achievements based on high resolution separation and isoenzyme techniques. Finally, the behavior of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase in selected major groups of fruits and vegetables is discussed. Some contradictions found in the literature are pointed out and some questions that have not been given the necessary attention by researchers so far are mentioned.

Polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase in fruits and vegetables.

Avena seedlings were germinated and grown while continuously rotated on the horizontal axis of a clinostat. The coleoptiles of these gravity-compensated plants were phototropically more responsive than those of plants rotated on a vertical axis. When the plants were compensated after unilateral irradiation, phototropic curvature of the shoot progressed for the next 6 hours, with the rate of curving decreasing about 3 hours after irradiation. The decrease in rate was less in the plants gravity-compensated before irradiation than in those vertically rotated. In the period 70 to 76 hours after planting, the growth rate of the compensated coleoptiles was significantly less than that of the vertically rotated seedlings. The greater phototropic curvature, the decreased growth rate, and the slower rate of straightening of the curved, compensated shoot can be correlated with several consequences of compensation: an increase in sensitivity to auxin, a lowering of auxin content in the coleoptile tip, and possibly, from an interaction between compensation and phototropic stimulation, an enhanced difference in auxin transport between the illuminated and shaded halves of the unilaterally irradiated shoot. The phototropic response of the vertically rotated seedling was significantly different from that of the vertical stationary, indicating the importance of vertically rotated controls in clinostat experiments.

Gravitational Compensation and the Phototropic Response of Oat Coleoptiles

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1970.15.6.0945

The concentration of radium, thorium, and uranium by tropical marine algae1

The action spectrum for the light-activated destruction of phytochrome in etiolated Avena seedlings has been determined. There are 2 broad maxima, one between 380 and 440 mμ, the other between 600 and 700 mμ. peaking at about 660 mμ. On an incident energy basis, the red region of the spectrum is more efficient than the blue by about one order of magnitude in activating phytochrome disappearance. Both the red absorbing as well as the far-red absorbing forms of phytochrome are destroyed after exposure of Avena seedling to either red or blue light. From the action spectrum and photoreversibility of pigment loss, we conclude that phytochrome acts as a photoreceptor for the photoactivation of its metabolically-based destruction. We suggest that another pigment might also be associated with the disappearance of phytochrome in oat seedlings exposed to blue light.

Action spectrum and characteristics of the light activated disappearance of phytochrome in oat seedlings.

The cosinor technique, previously applied to studies of animal rhythms, is used to assess the circadian rhythm in pinnule movement of Albizzia julibrissin. The method provides a quantitative approach for studying rhythm properties of either intact or excised pinnules. Phase shifting in A. julibrissin, as compared to the usually slower phase shifts of various circadian phenomena in the insect, bird, and mammal, occurs within 1 day or two. Rhythm adjustment in the pinnules takes place more rapidly when the lighting regiment is advanced than when it is delayed.

Quantifying Rhythmic Movements of Albizzia julibrissin Pinnules.

We have proposed that the lateral inequality of auxin associated with the phototropic response is a consequence of a light-induced impairment of basipolar transport of the hormone. If this is so, the dose-response curve for photoinhibition of auxin transport should resemble that for phototropism. Further, the wavelength dependencies of the transport and tropic response should also be similar. Oat coleopilles were irradiated equilaterally with white light and with broad- and narrow-spectral bands of blue light. Indoleacetic acid 2-(14)C was then applied apically to the intact coleoptile. Irradiation by the 3 sources inhibited basipolar transport of the auxin. The photoinhibition of transport increases with exposure, reaches a maximum at radiant energies depending on the source used, and then decreases. The dose response for transport inhibition matches that for phototropism. A correspondence in the spectral response of the 2 phenomena is also found for coleoptiles exposed to first positive energies at various wavelengths from 340 to 730 nm. We interpret these correlations as support for the hypothesis that phototropism is mediated by a photoinhibition of basipolar transport of auxin.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/plantphysiol/44/4/491.full.pdf

Solon A. Gordon

Papers

Gravitational Compensation and the Phototropic Response of Oat Coleoptiles

The concentration of radium, thorium, and uranium by tropical marine algae1

Action spectrum and characteristics of the light activated disappearance of phytochrome in oat seedlings.

Quantifying Rhythmic Movements of Albizzia julibrissin Pinnules.

Phototropism and photoinhibition of basipolar transport of auxin in oat coleoptiles.