Ethylene-Enhanced Transport of Uranine, a Fluorescent Dye, in Rice-Seedling Explants in Relation to Ethylene-Stimulated Coleoptile Growth

Ethylene enhanced the transport of uranine, a fluorescent dye,through the coleoptiles of rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Sasanishiki)seedlings explants after a 2-h lag period. The uranine transportincreased with increasing concentration of ethylene, reachinga maximum at 1 µ1.liter^–1 ethylene. It decreasedwhen some metabolic inhibitors, 2,4-dinitrophenol, carbonylcyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone and N-ethylmaleimide, were appliedto the scutella. Mechanical rupture or heating at the vascular-bundlesides of the coleoptiles also interfered with the ethylene-enhancedtransport of uranine. The wounding and removal of the scutellasimilarly blocked uranine transport. Moreover, strong fluorescenceof uranine was observed on the phloem regions of two vascularbundles of a coleoptile under a fluorescence microscope. Itis suggested that the ethylene-enhanced transport of uraninein the coleoptile of rice-seedling explants occurs through thephloem. On the other hand, the removal of the endosperm or therupture of the vascular bundles inhibited the ethylene-stimulatedelongation of the rice coleoptiles. Moreover, ethylene increaseddry weight of the shoots. These results suggest that the ethylene-stimulatedelongation of rice coleoptiles was supported partly by the ethylene-enhancedtranslocation of materials from the endosperms to the coleoptiles. (Received September 6, 1984; Accepted November 15, 1984)