Kaempferol 3-O-Galactoside, 7-O-Rhamnoside is the Major Green Fluorescing Compound in the Epidermis of Vicia faba.

The vacuoles of lower epidermal strips from Vicia faba exhibit an intrinsic green fluorescence when incubated in alkaline buffers. Using an alkaline-induced absorbance change as a spectrophotometric assay, the major pigment responsible for this fluorescence was isolated and identified as the flavonoid: kaempferol 3-O-galactoside, 7-O-rhamnoside. The aqueous absorption maxima were 394 and 341 nanometers at pH 10.

Role of carotenoids in the phototropic response of corn seedlings.

The herbicide, 4 chloro-5-(methylamino)-2-(alpha,alpha,alpha,-trifluoro-m-tolyl)-3 (2H)-pyridazinone (SAN 9789), which blocks the synthesis in higher plants of colored carotenoids but not of flavins, was used to examine the involvement of carotenoids in corn seedling phototropism. It was concluded that "bulk" carotenoids are not the photoreceptor pigment based on the results that increasing concentrations of SAN 9789 (up to 100 micromolar) did not alter the phototropic sensitivity to 380 nanometers light (using geotropism as a control) and did not increase the threshold intensities of fluence response curves for both 380 and 450 nanometers light even though carotenoid content was reduced to 1 to 2% of normal. SAN 9789 treatment, however, did reduce seedling sensitivity toward 450 nanometers light indicating that carotenoids are involved in phototropism.

Effect of xenon on the excited States of phototropic receptor flavin in corn seedlings.

The chemically inert, water-soluble heavy atom gas, xenon, at millimolar concentrations specifically quenches the triplet excited state of flavin in solution without quenching the flavin singlet excited state. The preferential quenching of the flavin triplet over the singlet excited state by Xe has been established by showing that the flavin triplet-sensitized photooxidation of NADH is inhibited while the fluorescence intensity and lifetime of flavin are not affected by Xe.The phototropic response of corn seedlings in an atmosphere of 90% Xe and 10% O(2) was compared with that in the 90% N(2) plus 10% O(2) mixture.

Mechanism of specific inhibition of phototropism by phenylacetic Acid in corn seedling.

Using geotropism as a control for phototropism, compounds similar to phenylacetic acid that photoreact with flavins and/or have auxin-like activity were examined for their ability to specifically inhibit phototropism in corn seedlings using geotropism as a control. Results using indole-3-acetic acid, napthalene-1-acetic acid, naphthalene-2-acetic acid, phenylacetic acid, and beta-phenylpyruvic acid suggest that such compounds will specifically inhibit phototropism primarily because of their photoreactivity with flavins and not their auxin activity. For example, strong auxins, indole-3-acetic acid and naphthalene-1-acetic acid, affected both tropic responses at all concentrations tested whereas weak auxins, phenylacetic acid and naphthalene-2-acetic acid, exhibited specific inhibition.