Studies on two Gibberellin-like Substances in Young Shoots of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

Two gibberellin-like substances were found in the acidic fractionof shoot extracts of the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.,cultivar Potentate). These were resolved by paper chromotographywith iso-propanol/ammonia/water (10:1:1) as the developing solventbut not with n-butanol/1.5 N ammonia (3:1). Both substanceswere active in the dwarf maize bioassay on mutants d-1, d-2,d-3, and d-5, and appeared to be more active on d-5 than d-1.Neither was active in the Meteor Pea assay. Neutral and basicfractions were inactive. The relative amounts of these two substances varied accordingto the age of the tissues from which they were extracted andthis feature is discussed in relation to future studies on thephysiology of gibberellin-like substances in vivo.