The Role of Ethylene in Growth and Endopolygalacturonase Production by Sclerotium rolfsii

Growth of and endopolygalacturonase production by Sclerotium rolfsii was better on a defined mineral medium than on a medium containing segments of tomato leaf petioles. The effect of treatment with ethylene (10μl/l) upon endopolygalacturonase activity with investigated at various stages of growth, in a mineral defined medium. Addition of ethylene to a 10 days-old culture of S. rolfsii resulted in a decrease in activity by day 14, whereas the addition of ethylene to a 4, 6 and 8 days old cultures resulted in an increase in endopolygalacturonase activity. Ethylene seems to have little or no stimulating effect upon growth of S. rolfsii when applied after 8 days. However, inhibited fungal growth, after the addition of ethylene at earlier stages of growth, was obtained due to the depletion of oxygen from sealed culture flasks. Endopolygalacturonase was extracted and purified from control cultures after 14 days of growth. Fractionation of this enzyme protein on Sephadex G-100 gel filtration columns resulted in two peaks of activity measured by the release of reducing sugars from polygalacturonic acid (PGA).