title: Chemical basis of plant leaf movement.
abstract: Nyctinastic plants open and close leaves with a circadian rhythm. Here we discuss chemical aspects of the mechanism of nyctinastic leaf movement. Nyctinastic plants from five different genera are known to contain species-specific leaf-opening and leaf-closing factors. The relative concentrations of leaf-closing and leaf-opening factors of the nyctinastic plant Phyllanthus urinaria change circadianly, suggesting that nyctinastic movement is regulated by two classes of circadianly regulated factors with opposing functions. A closing and an opening factor of Albizzia, when linked to a fluorescent dye, both specifically labeled motor cells of pluvini. A membrane fraction of pluvini contains proteins of 210 and 180 kDa that bind to a leaf-opening factor of Cassia mimosoides. The molecular identification of these proteins is underway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tohoku University, Aramakiaza-Aoba 6-3, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8578 Japan. ueda@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
mesh_terms: D001685:Biological Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008027:Light; D031298:Mimosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D029803:Phyllanthus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000502:physiology*; D029846:Senna Plant / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors