Photomorphogenic Responses of Long Hypocotyl Mutants of Tomato

Abstract

Tomato mutants at the au, yg-2, and yg-6 loci have yellow-green leaves, elongated hypocotyls and reduced anthocyanin content when grown in white light. Mutant auw, in contrast to its wild type, shows little or no effect of light on seed germination, anthocyanin synthesis, and hypocotyl elongation. In addition the chlorophyll content is reduced, the chlorophyll a/b ratio is increased and the stacking of the thylakoids in the chloroplasts is greatly reduced_ Spectrophotometrically determined phytochrome is absent or strongly reduced in its seeds, dark-grown hypocotyls, light-grown leaves, and roots. These results suggest that the phenotype of these mutants is correlated with a reduced phytochrome content. © 1985, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. All rights reserved.