Metabolism and Distribution of Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acid, a Plant Growth Stimulant, in Bush Bean

A foliar spray of 10 mm cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (CHC), a component of the growth stimulant naphthenic acid, to primary leaves of 14-day-old plants of bush bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L., cv Top Crop, resulted in increased vegetative growth and pod production. One minute after the application of 0.5 mm CHC-7-(14)C (CHC(*)) to a primary leaf, CHC(*) was present within it. The chief conversion of the CHC(*) in the leaf during the interval 15 minutes to 4 hours after the acid had been applied appeared to be CHC(*) to its glucose conjugate (CHC(*)-G), and during 4 to 48 hours, CHC(*)-G to CHC(*)-aspartate and an unknown metabolite. Radioactivity was confined to the leaf for at least 1 hour, but by the 12th hour was detected throughout the plant. In the interval 1 to 4 weeks after CHC(*) application, the mean percentage distribution of radioactivity was: treated leaf, 65.3; roots, 18.8; stem, 7.7; trifoliate leaves, 5.9; flower buds-flowers-pods, 2.3. During this period CHC(*)-G was the most prominent metabolite in all organs; no free CHC(*) was detected. Light favored the movement of CHC(*) conjugates out of the leaf; glucose fed to dark-grown plants substituted for light to some extent but aspartate was relatively ineffective, suggesting the dependence of outward movement on ATP. The presence of the glucose and aspartate conjugates of the acid in all organs of CHC-treated plants and the absence of free CHC from them suggest that one or both conjugates, rather than the acid itself, are involved in growth stimulation.