[Relationship between anatomical structure and metabolism of plant tissues. I. Differences between the qualitative and quantitative composition of phenolic substances of apple explants and that of callus and cells produced by the culture].

Abstract

Relationship between anatomical structure and metabolism of plant tissues. I. Differences between the qualitative and quantitative composition of phenolic substances of apple-fruit explants and that of calli and cells cultured from these explants. Phenolic compounds of intact apple-fruits (CV. Golden delicious), fruit fragments cultured on agar medium, newly formed calli and cell suspensions prepared from these calli, were studied quantitatively and qualitatively. The phenol content of the tissues decreased during the first days of culture, then recovered practically the initial level just before the initiating calli became visible. This content is very low in the calli and in the cultured cells. But the most remarkable result is that the qualitative compositions of the phenols extracted from the fruit tissues, the calli and the cells were different : p-coumaryglucose, which is abundant in the fruit, disappeared almost completely in the calli, in which three compounds were formed de novo, X1 which was tentatively identified as ferulylquinic acid, X2, a glycoside of p-coumaric acid different from p-coumarylglucose, and X3 not yet identified; the cells synthesized also X1 and X3 but not X2, and contained no p-coumaryglucose while feruylquinic acid was abundant. The study on the processes of induction or regulation of the enzymes implied in these metabolic modifications is under way.