Benzyladenine induces the appearance of LHCP-mRNA and of the relevant protein in dark-grown excised watermelon cotyledons.
Cotyledons were excised from imbibed watermelon seeds, grown for 4 days in darkness on water or 10 microM benzyladenine (BA) and then tested for the presence of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b protein (LHCP) and its mRNA. LHCP was assayed immunologically by western blotting of SDS gels: the protein was present in plastids, but it was not recovered with the thylakoid fraction. Antibodies directed against LHCP precipitated a 32 kDa polypeptide from translation products of poly(A) RNA of cotyledons only if these had been grown on BA. Taken together the data suggest that in absence of light cytokinins are necessary for the maintenance of a detectable level of LHCP-mRNA as well as for synthesis of the protein.
Longo
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Centro di Studio del CNR per la Biologia Cellulare e Molecolare delle Piante, Dipartimento di Biologia, Milano, Italy.
Bracale
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Rossi
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Longo
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D000225:Adenine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D003583:Cytokinins / Q000494:pharmacology; D003624:Darkness; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D010944:Plants / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics
D003583:Cytokinins; D045342:Light-Harvesting Protein Complexes; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000225:Adenine