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Articles

Floral Induction of Vegetative Plants Supplied a Purified Fraction of Deoxyribonucleic Acid from Stems of Flowering Plants ¹

^a Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Catonsville, Maryland 21228

It has been found that floral induced stems of flowering tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Wis. 38) plants contain large amounts of rapidly renaturing DNA, whereas noninduced stems of vegetative plants contain only small amounts. In addition, it has been shown that the striking qualitative difference in DNA between stems of flowering and vegetative plants mimics the over-all quantitative difference in DNA content (on a fresh weight basis). Therefore, the extra DNA in stems of flowering plants seems, at least in part, to represent preferential synthesis of rapidly renaturing DNA.

Rapidly renatured DNA (flowering plants) has been purified (cesium chloride gradients) from heated-cooled DNA solution and under noninductive conditions has been tested for floral activity. It has been found that when rapidly renatured DNA in buffer solution is supplied to axillary vegetative buds of vegetative plants and then the axillary buds are defoliated every 4th day for 12 days, the treated buds change into flower buds. On the other hand, control axillary buds supplied buffer solution alone remain vegetative.

In stem segments from flowering plants, the concept, discussed in previous reports, that indole-3-acetic acid may modify in vitro bud expression by directly affecting DNA synthesis has been reviewed. On the basis of this report, the concept is elaborated by proposing here that indole-3-acetic acid may act partially in bud expression by directly suppressing synthesis of rapidly renaturing DNA.