Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2003

Department

Biology

Abstract

The developmental profiles and tissue distribution of the four cyanogenic compounds in seedlings of two developmentally contrasting inbred lines of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) were examined using HPLC. During germination, the isoleucine-derived compound, neolinustatin, was hydrolysed faster in the more vigorous of the two lines. Furthermore, in this line, the neolinustatin content was higher in seeds and the accumulation of the other isoleucine-derived compound, lotaustralin, was also higher in the cotyledons of seedlings. In contrast, with one exception, the hydrolysis and accumulation of the valine-derived compounds, linustatin and linamarin, was the same in both lines. Differences in the levels of the compounds during germination, and in the hypocotyls, are interpreted as evidence for the involvement of transient levels of hydrogen cyanide in the autocatalytic regulation of ethylene production.

Comments

This article was originally published in Canadian Journal of Botany, 81(10): 1029-1038. © 2003 National Research Council. Reproduced with permission

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