Open AccessEthylene Production by Suspension-Cultured Pear Fruit Cells as Related to Their Senescence
Author(s) -
Rolf Puschmann,
Dangyang Ke,
Roger J. Romani
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
plant physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.554
H-Index - 312
eISSN - 1532-2548
pISSN - 0032-0889
DOI - 10.1104/pp.79.4.973
Subject(s) - ethylene , auxin , pear , senescence , mannitol , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell division , biochemistry , botany , chemistry , cell , gene , catalysis
Suspension-cultured pear fruit cells produce low levels of ethylene during growth and division in auxin containing medium. When deprived of auxin, division gradually ceases and ethylene production falls to barely discernible levels. However, notable ethylene production can now be induced by indoleacetic acid, CuCl(2), or 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid. If the auxin-deprived cells are transferred to ;aging' medium that lacks auxin but contains 0.4 molar mannitol, inducible ethylene production increases several-fold reaching levels of 40 to 60 nanoliters/10(6) cells per hour. Maximum inducible ethylene productivity is attained at varying times (1-6 days) after transfer to aging medium and appears to be temporally related to cell survival, i.e. the time of subsequent cell death. It is argued that auxin depletion initiates senescence which, in turn, leads to a transient increase in inducible ethylene production and eventual death. The limitations and potentials of the suspension-cultured pear cells as a system for the study of cellular senescence are discussed.