Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1984 Jun;75(2):342–348. doi: 10.1104/pp.75.2.342

Comparative Effects of Ethylene and Cyanide on Respiration, Polysome Prevalence, and Gene Expression in Carrot Roots 1

Mark L Tucker 1,2, George G Laties 1
PMCID: PMC1066909  PMID: 16663623

Abstract

Treatment of carrot roots (Daucus carota L.) with 10 microliters per liter ethylene in O2 evokes a three- to four-fold increase in polysome prevalence and associated poly(A)+ RNA. The increase in polysome prevalence is attended by a similar change in CO2 evolution. The increase in polysomal poly(A)+ mRNA constitutes primarily a generic increase in constitutive mRNAs as assayed by in vitro translation. However, changes in the relative abundance of several in vitro translatable ethylene specific mRNAs do occur.

Cyanide, at concentrations which inhibit cytochrome oxidase, initiates a respiratory rise very similar in kinetics and magnitude to that evoked by ethylene. Moreover, the combined treatment with cyanide and ethylene evokes a respiratory response resembling that caused by ethylene or cyanide alone. Nevertheless, cyanide, in the presence of ethylene, significantly inhibits the increase in polysome prevalence and new gene expression associated with ethylene treatment of carrot roots. Separation of in vitro translation products by one-dimensional and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis shows that several new in vitro translation products appear in cyanide-treated carrots different from those evoked by ethylene. Engagement of the less energy efficient alternative electron transport path by cyanide may be responsible for inhibition of the normal ethylene associated increase in polysome prevalence and new gene expression. The implications of these results on regulation of respiratory metabolism are discussed and compared with the results for similar experiments with avocado fruit (Tucker and Laties 1984 Plant Physiol 74: 307-315) in which cyanide does not inhibit an ethylene educed increase in polysome prevalence and change in gene expression.

Full text

PDF
342

Images in this article

344Fig. 3
on p.344
345Fig. 5
on p.345
346Fig. 6
on p.346
347Fig. 7
on p.347

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Chalutz E. Ethylene-induced Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase Activity in Carrot Roots. Plant Physiol. 1973 Jun;51(6):1033–1036. doi: 10.1104/pp.51.6.1033. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chin C. K., Frenkel C. Upsurge in respiration and peroxide formation in potato tubers as influenced by ethylene, propylene, and cyanide. Plant Physiol. 1977 Mar;59(3):515–518. doi: 10.1104/pp.59.3.515. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Christoffersen R. E., Laties G. G. Ethylene regulation of gene expression in carrots. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jul;79(13):4060–4063. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.13.4060. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Janes H. W., Rychter A., Frenkel C. Factors Influencing the Development of Cyanide-resistant Respiration in Potato Tissue. Plant Physiol. 1979 May;63(5):837–840. doi: 10.1104/pp.63.5.837. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Laskey R. A., Mills A. D. Quantitative film detection of 3H and 14C in polyacrylamide gels by fluorography. Eur J Biochem. 1975 Aug 15;56(2):335–341. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1975.tb02238.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mozer T. J. Partial purification and characterization of the mRNA for alpha-amylase from barley aleurone layers. Plant Physiol. 1980 May;65(5):834–837. doi: 10.1104/pp.65.5.834. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. O'Farrell P. H. High resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis of proteins. J Biol Chem. 1975 May 25;250(10):4007–4021. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Pelham H. R., Jackson R. J. An efficient mRNA-dependent translation system from reticulocyte lysates. Eur J Biochem. 1976 Aug 1;67(1):247–256. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1976.tb10656.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Roberts B. E., Paterson B. M. Efficient translation of tobacco mosaic virus RNA and rabbit globin 9S RNA in a cell-free system from commercial wheat germ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Aug;70(8):2330–2334. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.8.2330. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rychter A., Janes H. W., Chin C. K., Frenkel C. Effect of ethanol, acetaldehyde, acetic Acid, and ethylene on changes in respiration and respiratory metabolites in potato tubers. Plant Physiol. 1979 Jul;64(1):108–111. doi: 10.1104/pp.64.1.108. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Solomos T., Laties G. G. Effects of Cyanide and Ethylene on the Respiration of Cyanide-sensitive and Cyanide-resistant Plant Tissues. Plant Physiol. 1976 Jul;58(1):47–50. doi: 10.1104/pp.58.1.47. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Solomos T., Laties G. G. Similarities between the Actions of Ethylene and Cyanide in Initiating the Climacteric and Ripening of Avocados. Plant Physiol. 1974 Oct;54(4):506–511. doi: 10.1104/pp.54.4.506. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Theologis A., Laties G. G. Cyanide-resistant Respiration in Fresh and Aged Sweet Potato Slices. Plant Physiol. 1978 Aug;62(2):243–248. doi: 10.1104/pp.62.2.243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Theologis A., Laties G. G. Relative Contribution of Cytochrome-mediated and Cyanide-resistant Electron Transport in Fresh and Aged Potato Slices. Plant Physiol. 1978 Aug;62(2):232–237. doi: 10.1104/pp.62.2.232. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Theologis A., Laties G. G. Respiratory Contribution of the Alternate Path during Various Stages of Ripening in Avocado and Banana Fruits. Plant Physiol. 1978 Aug;62(2):249–255. doi: 10.1104/pp.62.2.249. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Tucker M. L., Laties G. G. Interrelationship of Gene Expression, Polysome Prevalence, and Respiration during Ripening of Ethylene and/or Cyanide-Treated Avocado Fruit. Plant Physiol. 1984 Feb;74(2):307–315. doi: 10.1104/pp.74.2.307. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wilson S. B. Energy conservation associated with cyanide-insensitive respiration in plant mitochondria. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1970 Dec 8;223(2):383–387. doi: 10.1016/0005-2728(70)90195-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Plant Physiology are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES