title: Nicotine promotes rooting in leaf explants of in vitro raised seedlings of tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Miller var. Pusa Ruby.
abstract: Nicotine promotes rooting in leaf explants of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Miller var. Pusa Ruby). Nicotine at 10(-9) to 10(-3) M concentrations was added to the MS basal medium. The optimum response (three-fold increase in rooting) was obtained at 10(-7) M nicotine-enriched MS medium. At the same level i.e. 10(-7) M Nicotine induced dramatic increase (11-fold) in the number of secondary roots per root. We have shown earlier that exogenous acetylcholine induces a similar response in tomato leaves. Since nicotine is an agonist of one of the two acetylcholine receptors in animals, its ability to simulate ACh action in a plant system suggests the presence of the same molecular mechanism operative in both, animal and plant cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi110007, India. Electronic address: kbamel@yahoo.in.
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bamel
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi110007, India.
authors.forename: Rajendra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi110007, India.
authors.forename: Shrish C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D018679:Cholinergic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000502:physiology*; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000187:drug effects*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000254:growth & development*; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000378:metabolism*; D036226:Seedlings / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018679:Cholinergic Agonists; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; D009538:Nicotine
keywords: Acetylcholine; Lycopersicon esculentum; Nicotine; Rhizogenesis; Tomato; Tubocurarine; nAChR