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. 1986 Feb;80(2):350–359. doi: 10.1104/pp.80.2.350

Water Stress Enhances Expression of an α-Amylase Gene in Barley Leaves

John V Jacobsen 1, Andrew D Hanson 1,1, Peter C Chandler 1
PMCID: PMC1075116  PMID: 16664625

Abstract

The amylases of the second leaves of barley seedlings (Hordeum vulgare L. cv Betzes) were resolved into eight isozymes by isoelectric focusing, seven of which were β-amylase and the other, α-amylase. The α-amylase had the same isoelectric point as one of the gibberellin-induced α-amylase isozymes in the aleurone layer. This and other enzyme characteristics indicated that the leaf isozyme corresponded to the type A aleurone α-amylase (low pI group). Crossing experiments indicated that leaf and type A aleurone isozymes resulted from expression of the same genes.

In unwatered seedlings, leaf α-amylase increased as leaf water potential decreased and ABA increased. Water stress had no effect on β-amylase. α-Amylase occurred uniformly along the length of the leaf but β-amylase was concentrated in the basal half of the leaf. Cell fractionation studies indicated that none of the leaf α-amylase occurred inside chloroplasts.

Leaf radiolabeling experiments followed by extraction of α-amylase by affinity chromatography and immunoprecipitation showed that increase of α-amylase activity involved synthesis of the enzyme. However, water stress caused no major change in total protein synthesis. Hybridization of a radiolabeled α-amylase-related cDNA clone to size fractionated RNA showed that water-stressed leaves contained much more α-amylase mRNA than unstressed plants. The results of these and other studies indicate that regulation of gene expression may be a component in water-stress induced metabolic changes.

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Selected References

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

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