METABOLIC CHANGES OF POLYAMINES DURING THE GERMINATION OF PHASEOLUS VULGARIS

Abstract

The distribution and changes in spermine and spermidine during the germination and seedling growth of bean Phaseolus vulgaris were investigated. The results show in vivo a substantial parallelism between RNA and protein changes and polyamine changes during germination. Spermine and spermidine diminish in the cotyledons and increase in the shoots especially the epicotyls. The data concerning in vitro cultures of isolated cotyledons and embryos show that there is a dc novo synthesis of spermine and spermidine in the seedlings particularly in the light. Although the greater part of the polyamines are translocated from cotyledons to embryo and afterwards into the different parts of the growing seedling, some is degraded. It is concluded that synthesis and translocation of such compounds during germination can be compared with an analogous pattern of RNA and protein changes. Copyright © 1970, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved