Selective synthesis of alcohol dehydrogenase during anaerobic treatment of maize

Summary Anaerobic treatment of a maize seedling mediates the synthesis of five major, native proteins and seven polypeptide size-classes; slab polyacrylamide and autoradiographic techniques were used to analyze extracts from single primary roots. The alcohol dehydrogenase-1 polypeptide is most dramatically synthesized and accumulated during anaerobiosis, as compared to aerobic control data. Allozymes were used to identify alcohol dehydrogenase unequivocally. Our results pertain to interpretations of previous studies on the alcohol dehydrogenase gene system in maize, and to work on the stress proteins of Drosophila.