Abstract
Weight of individual grains is a major yield component in wheat. The non-uniform distribution of single grain weight on a wheat spike is assumed to be closely associated with starch synthesis in grains. The present study was undertaken to determine if the enzymes involved in starch synthesis cause the differences in single grain weight between superior and inferior grains on a wheat spike. Using two high-yield winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties differing in grain weight and three nitrogen rates for one variety, the contents of amylose and amylopectin, and activities of enzymes involved in starch synthesis in both superior and inferior grains were investigated during the entire period of grain filling. Superior grains showed generally higher starch accumulation rates and activities of enzymes including SS (sucrose synthase), UDPGPPase (UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase), ADPGPPase (ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase), SSS (soluble starch synthase) and GBSS (starch granule bound starch synthase) and subsequently produced much higher single grain weight than inferior grains. Nitrogen increased enzyme activities and starch accumulation rates, and thus improved individual grain weight, especially for inferior grains. The SS, ADPGPPase and SSS were significantly correlated to amylopectin accumulation, while SS, ADPGPPase, SSS and GBSS were significantly correlated to amylose accumulation. This infers that SS, ADPGPPase and starch synthase play key roles in regulating starch accumulation and grain weight in superior and inferior grains on a wheat spike.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmadi A. and Baker D.A. 2001. The effect of water stress on the activities of key regulatory enzymes of the sucrose to starch pathway in wheat. Plant Growth Regul. 35: 81–91.
Bhullar S.S. and Jenner C.F. 1986. Effects of a brief episode of elevated temperature on grain filling in wheat ears cultured on solutions of sucrose. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 13: 617–626.
Calderini D.F. and Reynolds M.P. 2000. Changes of grain weight as a consequence of de-graining treatments at pre-and post-anthesis in synthetic hexaploid lines of wheat (Triticum durum X T. Tauschii). Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 27: 183–191.
Calderini D.F., Abeledo L.G., Savin R. and Slafer G.A. 1999. Final grain weight in wheat as affected by short periods of high temperature during pre-and post-anthesis under field conditions. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 26: 453–458.
Calderini D.F., Savin R., Abeledo L.G., Reynolds M.P., Slafer G.A. and Bedo X. 2001. The importance of the period immediately preceding anthesis for grain weight determination in wheat. In: Selected papers from the Sixth International Wheat Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 5–9 June 2000. Euphytica 119: 199–204.
Gao X.P., Francis D., Ormrod J.C. and Bennett M.D. 1992. Changes in cell number and cell division activity during endosperm development in allohexaploid wheat, Triticum aestivum L. J. Exp. Bot. 43: 1603–1609.
Gu S.L., Zhu Q.S., Yang J.C. and Peng S.B. 2001. Analysis on grain filling characteristics for different rice types. Acta Agron. Sin. 27: 7–14 (in Chinese).
Gu Z.F., Zhu Q.S. and Z Cao X. 1981. Studies on rate of grain ripening in rice. The relationship between dry weight accumulation in vigorous and weak spikelets and the distribution of sterile abortive grain (in Chinese). Sci. Agric. Sin. 14: 38–44.
He Z.F. 1985. Determination of amylose and amylopectin contents with a coupled spectrophotometer method. In: He Z.F. (ed.), Grain Quality and It's Analysis Technology, Chinese Agricutural Press, Beijing, pp. 274–294 (in Chinese).
Jenner C.F. 1991. Effects of exposure of wheat ears to high temperature on dry matter accumulation and carbohydrate metabolism in the grain of two cultivars. I. Immediate response. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 18: 165–177.
Jenner C.F. 1991. Effects of exposure of wheat ears to high temperature on dry matter accumulation and carbohydrate metabolism in the grain of two cultivars. II. Carry-over effects. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 18: 179–190.
Jin D.M., Wang W.J., Lan S.Y., Xu Z.X. and Yang S.H. 2002. Dynamic status of endogenous IAA, ABA and GA levels in superior and inferior spikelets of heavy panicle hybrid rice during grain filling. J. Plant Physiol. Mol. Biol. 28: 215–220.
Kato T. 1995. Change of sucrose synthase activity in developing endosperm of rice cultivars. Crop Sci. 35: 827–831.
Keeling P.L. 1988. Starch biosynthesis in developing wheat grain. Evidence against the direct involvement of triose phosphates in the metabolic pathway. Plant Physiol. 87: 311–319.
Lesch S.M., Grieve C.M., Maas E.V. and Francois L.E. 1992. Kernel distributions in main spikes of salt-stressed wheat: a probabilistic modeling approach. Crop Sci. 32: 704–712.
Li J.C., Wei F.Z. and Ding X. 1999. Relationship between vascular bundle system of rachis and rachilla and ear productivity in wheat (in Chinese). Acta Agron. Sin. 25: 315–319.
Li L.R. and Sun B.R. 1980. Study on determination of micro ATP with luciferin-luciferase reagent. Prog. Biochem. Biophys. 6: 60–62.
Liang J.S., Cao X.Z., Xu Q.S. and Song P. 1994. Studies on the relationship between the grain sink strength and it's starch accumulation in rice (O. Sativa) (in Chinese). Acta Agron. Sin. 20: 685–691.
MacDonald P.W. and Duffus C.M. 1988. Reduced starch content and sucrose synthase activity in developing endosperm of barley plants grown at elevated temperatures. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 15: 367–375.
Nakamura Y., Yuki K., Park S. and Ohya T. 1989. Carbohydrate metabolism in the developing endosperm of rice grains. Plant Cell Physiol. 30: 833–839.
Patel R. and Mohapatra P.K. 1984. Regulation of spikelet development in rice by hormone. J. Exp. Bot. 47: 257–262.
Preiss J. and Greenberg E. 1974. Adenosine-5′-diphosphoglucose. In: Bergmeyer H.U. (ed.) Methods of Enzymatic Analysis, Academic Press, New York, pp. 2204–2208.
Rijven A.H.G.C. 1986. Heat inactivation of starch synthase in wheat endosperm tissue. Plant Physiol. 81: 448–453.
SAS Institute Inc. 1997. SAS for Windows. Release 6.12. SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC.
Stamp P.H. and Geisler G. 1976. Grain development in relation to grain position in two spring wheat cultivars. Z. Acker Pflanzenbau 142: 264–274.
Stoddard F.L. 1999. Variation in grain mass, grain nitrogen, and starch B-granule content within wheat heads. Cereal Chem. 76: 139–144.
Suastawa I.N., Kitani O., Sakai N., Yonekawa S., Okamoto T. and Torii T. 1996. Grain detachment strengths and grain mass of three rice types. J. Jpn. Soc. Agric. Machinery 58: 65–72.
Wang T.D. 1962. A dynamic analysis of grain weight distribution during maturation of rice (in Chinese). Acta Bot. Sin. 10: 113–119.
Wang T.D. and Yan R.H. 1964. A dynamic anyalysis of grain weight distribution during maturation of rice. II. The irreversible changes in the capacity to filling (in Chinese). Acta Phytophysiol. Sin. 1: 9–14.
Wang Y.L., Yao Y.L., Li T.Y. and Cai J.Z. 1995. The ripening abilities of spikelets at different positions on the panicle of rice (in Chinese). Acta Agron. Sin. 21: 434–441.
Wardlaw I.F. and Willenbrink J. 1994. Carbohydrate storage and mobilisation by the culm of wheat between heading and grain maturity: the relation to sucrose synthase and sucrose–phosphate synthase. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 21: 251–271.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jiang, D., Cao, W., Dai, T. et al. Activities of key enzymes for starch synthesis in relation to growth of superior and inferior grains on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) spike. Plant Growth Regulation 41, 247–257 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:GROW.0000007500.90240.7d
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:GROW.0000007500.90240.7d