Die Wirkung von Kinetin, 2,4-DNP und Antimetaboliten auf die Veränderungen im Aminosäurengehalt welkender Pflanzenblätter

Summary It has been established that in intact plants suffering from scarcity of water as well as in isolated withering leaves the amount of proline increases considerably. The main factor in the isolated leaves is thus the scarcity of water and not the injury due to the defoliation. The proline content of the leaves withering in the dark increases only for a few days and then decreases with the diminution of the carbohydrates. Of the active substances tested only 2,4-DNP inhibited the proline synthesis during the withering. It is very probable that in the course of withering the great amount of proline forms during the oxidation of carbohydrates via -ketoglutarate. The oxydative phosphorylation is uncoupled by 2,4-DNP. Kinetin, 2,4-D and antimetabolites applied do not inhibit the abnormal increase of proline.     

Pigment composition and plastid structure in leaves of carotenoid mutants of maize

Summary In monogenic, recessive chloroplast mutants of maize which contain chlorophylls, and lycopene or -carotene but no normal carotenoids, great variability in the size of plastids was associated with a number of ultrastructural abnormalities. In the mutant accumulating lycopene some plastids contain dense bundles of lamellae, whereas the chloroplasts of the -carotene mutant show poor thylakoid development. Neither of the mutants was able to form normal grana.A comparison of chlorophyll/carotenoid ratios in different chloroplast fractions of normal and mutant leaves showed that plastids of small size and delicate structure contain relatively less chlorophyll than fully differentiated chloroplasts.     

Ektodesmenstudien

Summary Lambertz (1954) did not mention Gramineae as plants containing ectodesmata, although he stated that ectodesmata are not bound to special groups of angiosperms but should occur in all families of angiosperms. Schnepe (1959) expressly pointed out that he never succeeded in demonstrating such structures in leaves of Gramineae with his method. In our studies, however, ectodesmata could be shown in leaves of wheat and maize if the fixation mixture contained nitric acid. As in other objects, including species of gymnosperms and pteridophytes, the same distribution of ectodesmata could be observed which was characterized by the formation of rows along the anticlinal walls, crowding in guard-cells and seattering in periclincal walls.     

Heterogeneous production of laccase by mycelium of white-rot fungi

Mycelium of white-rot fungi secretes laccase into the medium. It was found by cultivation on malt-agar plates that the mycelium does not produce laccase equally in all its parts. The youngest hyphae at the margins of the colony represent usually the maximum producers, whereas older hyphae produce less or none at all. An exception here isCollybia velutipes which is the weakest producer of laccase of all the fungi studied and where only the older hyphae begin to secrete it. Manometric estimation of laccase showed that maximum specific activity of laccase is achieved at the boundary between the phases of initial and linear growth and i₁₁ some cases during the first half of linear growth. Ageing of the mycelium characterized by certain changes in its metabolism is reflected in changes of enzyme production by fungal hypha of different age.