Abstract Detail
Environmental Physiology Patitucci, Teresa [1], Feirer, Russ [2]. A Simplified Method for the Measurement of Proline in Stressed Tissues. Higher plants produce the amino acid proline in the response to dehydration. This compound provides intracellular protection against water loss, a process of profound economic and agronomic importance. In plants more primitive than gymnosperms little is known about the occurrence and role of proline during water stress or the genes or enzymes responsible for proline biosynthesis. A focus of our work is the study of the occurrence of proline in a primitive plant’s responses to water stress. A commonly used spectrophotometric technique for the measurement of free proline in plant tissues (Bates et. al, 1973) was modified to simplify the protocol and utilize smaller amounts of tissue. Free proline levels were routinely determined in tissues weighing less than 100 mg (fresh weight). The utility of the technique was confirmed by the detection of elevated proline levels in osmotically-stressed intact and in vitro grown Arabidopsis thaliana tissues. Elevations of free proline have not detected in stressed fern tissues. Intact and in vitro derived Ceratopteris richardii tissues were subjected to osmotic stress by a 24 hr exposure to 0.6 M sorbitol, with no significant rise in proline levels being observed. Additional primitive plant species are being studied to determine if the biosynthesis of proline in response to stress is an adaptation found only higher plants.
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1 - St. Norbert College, Biology, De Pere, WI, 54115, USA
2 - St. Norbert College, Biology
Keywords:
drought stress
proline
Ceratopteris richardii
Fern
Arabidopsis thaliana.
Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P01045
Abstract ID:2008 | 