Abstract
The polyamine synthesis inhibitor difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) inhibits growth and cell division in tomato fruits (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. c.v. F 121) when applied after pollination by the split-stem technique. In napthaleneacetic acid (NAA)-induced fruits, however, growth is not inhibited by DFMO. We analyzed the effect of DFMO on cell division in auxin induced tomato fruits, and on the concentration of free, soluble conjugated and insoluble bound polyamines in pollinated and NAA-induced fruits, five days after pollination in the presence and absence of DFMO. Cell number was not significantly reduced by DFMO in NAA-induced fruits five days after fruit set. Free spermine, soluble conjugated and insoluble bound polyamines were higher in fruits treated with DFMO than in those treated with water. They were also higher in DFMO-treated pollinated fruits than in NAA-induced ones. Our results suggest that inhibition of cell division by polyamine synthesis inhibitor might affect further metabolism of polyamines.
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Abbreviations
- DFMA:
-
α-difluoromethylarginine
- DFMO:
-
α-difluoromethylornithine
- MGBG:
-
methylglyoxyl bis-(guanylhydrazone)
- NAA:
-
α-naphthaleneacetic acid
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This work was performed in partial fulfillment for the PhD degree of Marcos Egea-Cortines
Department of Life Sciences Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
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Egea-Cortines, M., Mizrahi, Y. The effect of difluoromethylornithine on polyamine levels in pollinated and napthaleneacetic acid-induced young tomato fruits. Plant Growth Regul 12, 287–292 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027210
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027210