THE UPTAKE OF COPPER AND ITS EFFECT UPON RESPIRATORY PROCESSES OF ROOTS OF COPPER‐TOLERANT AND NON‐Tolerant CLONES OF AGROSTIS STOLONIFERA

Abstract

The uptake of copper by non‐tolerant and tolerant clones of Agrostis stolonifera has been studied. In both clones the roots accumulated more copper than the leaves and the roots of the tolerant clone accumulated more copper than the non–tolerant one. When supplied at concentrations above 10 μM in culture solutions copper moved up into the leaves of the non‐tolerant clone more readily than the tolerant one. Uptake of oxygen by roots was only affected when they were pretreated with copper, the non‐tolerant ones being more sensitive to inhibition than tolerant ones. Over the concentration range tested copper had no effect upon l‐malate‐dehydrogenase (MDH) activity in root extracts of either clone. Extracts prepared from non–tolerant roots pretreated with copper were found to contain less MDH activity than those prepared from tolerant ones. It is suggested that this was due to an inhibition of protein synthesis in the roots of the non‐tolerant clone, which did not occur in the tolerant one. Copyright © 1975, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved