The role of abscisic acid in the response of a specific vacuolar invertase to water stress in the adult maize leaf.

Among the numerous molecular and physiological modifications induced by water deficit, one of the earliest events observed in maize mature leaves subjected to water deprivation was a strong enhancement of acid vacuolar invertase activity, which occurred before the classical reduction in gas exchange due to stomatal closure. The increase in invertase activity coincided with the rapid accumulation of glucose and fructose that reached 8-fold the control leaf value. In addition, acid vacuolar invertase activity appeared to be highly correlated with xylem sap ABA concentration.