Influence of exogenous sucrose on the greening of oat

Abstract

The greening of roots and leaves has been studied in whole oat seedlings grown on White's medium either with or without 2% sucrose. The added nutrient promotes chlorophyll synthesis and chloroplast differentiation in the roots. Yet it manifests a negative effect in the foliar tissues where it accelerates the decline in chlorophyll as well as the chloroplast ultrastructural alterations usually associated with senescence. The negative effect of the nutrient in the leaves is probably a consequence of the addition of exogenous sucrose to the endogenous sugars produced by photosynthesis. The foliar tissues would therefore be in the presence of high sucrose concentrations, which are known to be harmful for the photosynthetic apparatus. SDS-PAGE analysis of thylakoid polypeptides from root and leaf chloroplasts has revealed organ-specific differences in the electrophoretic patterns.