Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1993 Jul;102(3):925–932. doi: 10.1104/pp.102.3.925

Chalcone Synthase and Flavonol Accumulation in Stigmas and Anthers of Petunia hybrida.

P E Pollak 1, T Vogt 1, Y Mo 1, L P Taylor 1
PMCID: PMC158865  PMID: 12231878

Abstract

Flavonol aglycones are required for pollen germination in petunia (Petunia hybrida L.). Mutant plants lacking chalcone synthase (CHS), which catalyzes the first committed step in flavonoid synthesis, do not accumulate flavonols and are self-sterile. The mutant pollen can be induced to germinate by supplementing it with kaempferol, a flavonol aglycone, either at the time of pollination or by addition to an in vitro germination system. Biochemical complementation occurs naturally when the mutant, flavonol-deficient pollen is crossed to wild-type, flavonoid-producing stigmas. We found that successful pollination depends on stigma maturity, indicating that flavonol aglycone accumulation may be developmentally regulated. Quantitative immunoblotting, in vitro and in vivo pollen germination, and high-performance liquid chromatographic analyses of stigma and anther extracts were used to determine the relationship between CHS levels and flavonol aglycone accumulation in developing petunia flowers. Although substantial levels of CHS were measured, we detected no flavonol aglycones in wild-type stigma or anther extracts. Instead, the occurrence of a conjugated form (flavonol glycoside) suggests that a mechanism may operate to convert glycosides to the active aglycone form.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.4 MB).

Selected References

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

  1. Bradford M. M. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem. 1976 May 7;72:248–254. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(76)90527-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dooner H. K., Robbins T. P., Jorgensen R. A. Genetic and developmental control of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Annu Rev Genet. 1991;25:173–199. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.25.120191.001133. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. 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]
  4. Lamb C. J., Lawton M. A., Dron M., Dixon R. A. Signals and transduction mechanisms for activation of plant defenses against microbial attack. Cell. 1989 Jan 27;56(2):215–224. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90894-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lawton M. A., Lamb C. J. Transcriptional activation of plant defense genes by fungal elicitor, wounding, and infection. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jan;7(1):335–341. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.1.335. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Malamy J., Hennig J., Klessig D. F. Temperature-Dependent Induction of Salicylic Acid and Its Conjugates during the Resistance Response to Tobacco Mosaic Virus Infection. Plant Cell. 1992 Mar;4(3):359–366. doi: 10.1105/tpc.4.3.359. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Napoli C., Lemieux C., Jorgensen R. Introduction of a Chimeric Chalcone Synthase Gene into Petunia Results in Reversible Co-Suppression of Homologous Genes in trans. Plant Cell. 1990 Apr;2(4):279–289. doi: 10.1105/tpc.2.4.279. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ried J. L., Walker-Simmons M. K., Everard J. D., Diani J. Production of polyclonal antibodies in rabbits is simplified using perforated plastic golf balls. Biotechniques. 1992 May;12(5):660–666. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Rottmann W. H., Peter G. F., Oeller P. W., Keller J. A., Shen N. F., Nagy B. P., Taylor L. P., Campbell A. D., Theologis A. 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase in tomato is encoded by a multigene family whose transcription is induced during fruit and floral senescence. J Mol Biol. 1991 Dec 20;222(4):937–961. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(91)90587-v. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ryder T. B., Hedrick S. A., Bell J. N., Liang X. W., Clouse S. D., Lamb C. J. Organization and differential activation of a gene family encoding the plant defense enzyme chalcone synthase in Phaseolus vulgaris. Mol Gen Genet. 1987 Dec;210(2):219–233. doi: 10.1007/BF00325687. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Welle R., Grisebach H. Phytoalexin synthesis in soybean cells: elicitor induction of reductase involved in biosynthesis of 6'-deoxychalcone. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1989 Jul;272(1):97–102. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(89)90199-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Ylstra B., Touraev A., Moreno R. M., Stöger E., van Tunen A. J., Vicente O., Mol J. N., Heberle-Bors E. Flavonols stimulate development, germination, and tube growth of tobacco pollen. Plant Physiol. 1992 Oct;100(2):902–907. doi: 10.1104/pp.100.2.902. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. van der Meer I. M., Stam M. E., van Tunen A. J., Mol J. N., Stuitje A. R. Antisense inhibition of flavonoid biosynthesis in petunia anthers results in male sterility. Plant Cell. 1992 Mar;4(3):253–262. doi: 10.1105/tpc.4.3.253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES