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Articles

Effect of Silver Ion, Carbon Dioxide, and Oxygen on Ethylene Action and Metabolism ¹

^a Central Research and Development Department, Experimental Station, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Delaware 19898

The relationship between ethylene action and metabolism was investigated in the etiolated pea seedling (Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska) by inhibiting ethylene action with Ag⁺, high CO₂, and low O₂ and then determining if ethylene metabolism was inhibited in a similar manner. Ag⁺ (100 milligrams per liter) was clearly the most potent antiethylene treatment. Ag⁺ pretreatment inhibited the growth retarding action of 0.2 microliters per liter ethylene by 48% and it also inhibited the incorporation of 0.2 microliters per liter ¹⁴C₂H₄ into pea tips by the same amount. As the ethylene concentration was increased from 0.2 to 30 microliters per liter, the effectiveness of Ag⁺ in reducing ethylene action and metabolism declined in a similar fashion. Although Ag⁺ significantly inhibited the incorporation of ¹⁴C₂H₄ into tissue metabolites, the oxidation of ¹⁴C₂H₄ to ¹⁴CO₂ was unaffected in the same tissue.

CO₂ (7%) inhibited ethylene-induced growth retardation but its effectiveness diminished at a greater rate than that of Ag⁺ with increasing ethylene concentration. High CO₂ had just the opposite effect of Ag⁺ since it inhibited ¹⁴C₂H₄ oxidation to ¹⁴CO₂ without affecting tissue incorporation. In contrast to Ag⁺, CO₂ did not inhibit ethylene action and metabolism to exactly the same extent, and the inhibition of metabolism did not rapidly decline with increasing ¹⁴C₂H₄ concentration. However, high CO₂ did alter the ratio of ¹⁴C₂H₄ tissue incorporation to ¹⁴CO₂ production in a manner consistent with changes in ethylene effectiveness.

Lowering the O₂ concentration to 5% reduced ethylene-induced growth retardation from 70 to 58% at 0.22 microliters per liter and inhibited ¹⁴C₂H₄ (0.25 microliters per liter) tissue incorporation and oxidation to ¹⁴CO₂ by 26 and 45%, respectively. However, in contrast to Ag⁺ and high CO₂ which slightly promoted growth in ethylene-free air, low O₂ reduced pea seedling growth under these conditions thereby severely limiting its usefulness as a specific antiethylene treatment.

Collectively these data suggest that the metabolism of ethylene may be related to its action.

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