ISHS Acta Horticulturae 321: Frontier in Tropical Fruit Research
STANDARDIZATION OF MALFORMIN BIOASSAYS AND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MALFORMATION INTENSITY AND MALFORMIN ACTIVITY IN MANGO |
| Authors: | S. Ram, K. Raina |
| Abstract:
The corn foot curvature test was standardized for estimation of malformin activity in malformed mango tissues. Except authentic and mango malformins, none of the plant growth substances and other chemicals viz., phenols, flavonoids, quinones, lactones, steroids and amino acids caused curvature in corn roots typical to malformins. Malformin A and mango malformins also induced typical curvature in pea roots similar to that of corn roots, whereas they induced flap-like growth in wheat roots but such an effect could not be detected with other plant hormones and chemicals. Thus, induction of curvature in corn and pea roots and flap-like growth in wheat roots were found to be specific to malformin. Healthy panicles and shoots of mango did not show any malformin activity when assayed by corn, pea and wheat root bioassays. However, crude malformins were isolated by solvent partitioning and column chromatography from malformed mango panicles and shoots. Data indicated a positive and strong correlation between malformation intensity and malformin activity. Some of the malformin-like substance(s) appear to be common in vegetative and floral malformed tissues but vegetative malformed tissues possessed additional malformins. It is suggested that vegetative malformation of the panicle or shoot is a severe form of floral malformation and both floral and vegetative malformation are caused by similar group of compounds having different chemical configurations. | |
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