Reversal of the Polarity of IAA Transport in the Leaf Sheath Base of Echinochloa colonum

The transport of [2-¹⁴C]IAA and its derived products has beeninvestigated in segments of the leaf sheath base of Echinochloacolonum. Segments orientated vertically in the normal uprightposition transport ¹⁴C basipetally at rates approximately 10times higher that acropetally. In horizontal segments the basipetalrates are lower, being only 1–4 times higher than acropetalrates. Segments orientated vertically in the inverted positiontransport ¹⁴C basipetally at approximately 1/10 of the acropetalrate. ¹⁴C in the receiver discs from vertically orientated segmentswas found to be present predominantly as [2-¹⁴C]IAA and itsderived metabolite. The levels of each of these compounds from upright and invertedvertical segments followed the same pattern as that of theirtotal ¹⁴C content.