Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol 50, 311-317, Copyright © 1999 by Oxford University Press
I Bernal-Lugo, M Rodriguez, M Gavilanes-Ruiz and A Hamabata
With the aim of determining the level at which ageing exerts its effect on
the expression of
ARTICLES
Reduced aleurone {alpha}-amylase production in aged wheat seeds is accompanied by lower levels of high-pI
-amylase transcripts and reduced response to gibberellic acid
Departamento de Bioquimica, Facultad de quimica, UNAM, Mexico D.F. 04510; Departamento de Bioquimica CINVESTAV-IPN, 07000, Mexico D.F.; Corresponding author e-mail: irmofel@servicor.unam.mx
-amylase, GA3 regulation
of
-amylase production was studied in
isolated aleurone layers from aged wheat seeds. GA3-induced
-amylase activity was lower in the tissue from aged seeds than in
controls. However, the proportion of 35S-methionine
incorporated into
-amylase was higher in the aged than in control
tissue. The pattern of
-amylase isoforms was resolved by
isoelectric focusing and showed that two isogroups were present with the
activity of the high-pI isogroup being higher in the control than in the
aged lot. These apparently contradictory results may be explained in terms
of differences in isozyme expression. Studies on the expression of
-amylase genes indicated a reduction in the level of high-pI mRNA
in aged tissue. Dose-response curves showed lower GA3-responsiveness of
aleurone layers from aged seeds as compared to the controls. From these
results, it is proposed that the diminished capacity of
-amylase
production in aleurone from aged seeds is apparently due to a decrease in
the expression of the high-pI
-amylase genes, and this reduction
is associated with a decrease in the response to GA3.Key
words: Seed ageing, wheat aleurone, gibberellic acid,
-amylase isozymes, gene expression.
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