Hormonal Effects on Growth and Morphology of Normal and Hairy Roots of Hyoscyamus muticus

Abstract.

Treatment of normal and Agrobacterium rhizogenes-transformed root cultures of Hyoscyamus muticus with three different auxins, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), revealed that the response varied considerably among auxins, between transformed and normal roots, and depending on the parameter. In normal roots all three auxins provoked abundant branching, with IBA and NAA being the most effective at 2.5 and 0.5 μm, respectively, whereas IAA was most effective at low concentrations (0.05 and 0.1 μm). In transformed roots exogenously supplied auxins were generally inhibitory or, at best, without effect on growth and branching. Only 0.01 μm IAA significantly enhanced lateral root number, whereas at the higher concentrations IBA, although inhibitory, was the least effective auxin. In both root types IBA had little effect on primary root growth, but normal roots were more sensitive to IAA and NAA. These results suggest a different sensitivity to auxins of normal and transformed roots since there was no significant difference in endogenous free and conjugated IAA content nor in IAA uptake capacity. Ethylene production and biosynthesis were approximately threefold higher in hairy roots, but production could be stimulated up to tenfold that of control levels in normal roots by supplying NAA or 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC). Treatment with 2.5 μm NAA, but not IAA or IBA, also enhanced ethylene biosynthesis in normal roots but not in transformed ones. ACC and malonyl-1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid accumulated to detectable levels only after treatment with an auxin (NAA).