Quantification of indole-3-acetic acid in untransformed and Agrobacterium rhizogenes-transformed pea roots using gas chromatography mass spectrometry

Root segments of Pisum sativum L. were transformed by several strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The resulting hairy roots, as well as apical segments from untransformed pea roots, were used to initiate root lines cultured in vitro. Levels of free IAA were quantified in the sub-cultured lines by gas-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, using selected ion monitoring. For most of the cultured untransformed and transformed root lines the IAA content was very small, compared with levels in untransformed intact primary roots. However, an agropine-type hairy root line (incited by strain 15834) contained significantly higher amounts of IAA. The peculiar phenotype of this root line (abundant production of calli) appears to be associated with an increased IAA level, as opposed to most of the hairy root lines, where the extensive secondary root proliferation associated with the hairy-root disease cannot be merely attributed to a markedly enhanced IAA content.