OLIGOSACCHARINS AS PLANT-GROWTH REGULATORS

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Abstract / Description of output

Oligosaccharides with regulatory effects on living plant tissue have been obtained by partial hydrolysis of xyloglucan, cellulose and pectic polysaccharides. Attention is focused here on xyloglucan-derived oligosaccharides (XGOs), which exert the following two distinct effects on cell growth in pea-stem segments. (i) At approx. 1 nM, the L-fucosylated XGOs, such as XXFG, XFFG and FG (for structure of XXFG, see Fig. 1), antagonize 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)-stimulated growth. At approx. 100 nM, XXFG loses this growth-inhibitory effect, probably because it gains a growth-promoting effect [see (ii)]; in contrast, FG retains its growth-inhibitory effect. The growth-inhibitory effect is tentatively attributed to membrane-binding of the active XGOs. (ii) At approx. 1 mu M, at least four different cellotetraose-based XGOs (XXXG, XXLG, XXFG and XLLG) mimic auxin in that they induce growth. This effect is thus not L-fucose-dependent and is not exhibited by the cellobiose-based pentasaccharide, FG. Effect (ii) is attributed to the ability of cellotetraose-based XGOs to act as acceptor substrates for xyloglucan endotransglycosylase.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMOLECULAR BOTANY: SIGNALS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
EditorsDJ Bowles, PM Gilmartin, JP Knox, GG Lunt
Place of PublicationLONDON
PublisherPortland Press
Pages514
Number of pages10
ISBN (Print)1-85578-050-X
Publication statusPublished - 1994

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