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Modulation of Reserve Mobilization by Sucrose, Glutamine, and Abscisic Acid During Seedling Establishment in Sunflower

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Abstract

We carried out in vitro feeding experiments using sunflower as a model to differentiate the modulatory effects of metabolites (sucrose and glutamine) and hormones (gibberellic acid and abscisic acid) on reserve mobilization, metabolite partitioning, and key enzyme activities. Exogenous sucrose negatively not only modulated the mobilization of carbon reserves (oils and starch), but it also delayed the degradation of nitrogen reserves (storage proteins) in the cotyledons. Similarly, exogenous glutamine negatively not only modulated storage protein hydrolysis, but it also retarded oil and starch degradation. Different from the metabolites, exogenous abscisic acid affected only the mobilization of oils and storage proteins. Sucrose and glutamine caused non-reducing sugar accumulation in the cotyledons and axis, but abscisic acid did not change the content of these compounds in both seedling parts. Curiously, glutamine failed to cause amino acid accumulation in the cotyledons and abscisic acid increased the amino acid content in both cotyledons and axis. Gibberellic acid did not stimulate reserve mobilization and metabolite consumption. Although the mobilization of oils, storage proteins, and starch has been delayed by sucrose and glutamine, these metabolites augmented the activity of isocitrate lyase, acid proteases, and amylases. Only abscisic acid reduced amylase activity and increased glutamine synthetase activity. Accordingly, sucrose and glutamine exert a “crossed effect” on reserve mobilization, that is, sucrose delays storage protein hydrolysis and glutamine retards oil and starch degradation. These effects may be mediated by non-reducing sugars and they are, at least in part, different from those exerted by abscisic acid.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the fellowships, Banco do Nordeste do Brasil (BNB), CNPq, and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) for funding and Heliagro Agricultura e Pecuária Ltda (MG, Brazil) for the sunflower seeds.

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  1. Departamento de Biologia Celular e Genética, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Campus Universitário, Lagoa Nova, Natal, RN, CEP 59072-910, Brazil

    Thiago Barros-Galvão, Danilo Flademir Alves de Oliveira, Cristiane Elizabeth Costa de Macêdo & Eduardo Luiz Voigt

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  1. Thiago Barros-Galvão
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  2. Danilo Flademir Alves de Oliveira
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  3. Cristiane Elizabeth Costa de Macêdo
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  4. Eduardo Luiz Voigt
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Correspondence to Eduardo Luiz Voigt.

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Barros-Galvão, T., de Oliveira, D.F.A., de Macêdo, C.E.C. et al. Modulation of Reserve Mobilization by Sucrose, Glutamine, and Abscisic Acid During Seedling Establishment in Sunflower. J Plant Growth Regul 36, 11–21 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-016-9611-4

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