Abscisic acid activity

Hattori, T. et al., The Viviparous-1 gene and abscisic acid activate the Cl regulatory gene for anthocyanin biosynthesis during seed maturation in maize. Genes Dev., 6, 609, 1992. 

Phillips, J. et al. (1997) Seed-specific immu-nomodulation of abscisic acid activity induces a developmental switch. EMBOJ. 16,4489 496... 

Some phenolic acids such as ellagic acid can be used as floral markers of heather honey (Cherchi et al., 1994 Ferreres et al., 1996a,b), and the hydroxyciimamates (caffeic, p-coumaric, and ferulic acids) as floral markers of chestnut honey (Cherchi et al., 1994). Pinocembrin, pinobanksin, and chrysin are the characteristic flavonoids of propolis, and these flavo-noid compounds have been found in most European honey samples (Tomas-Barberan et al., 2001). However, for lavender and acacia honeys, no specific phenolic compoimds could be used as suitable floral markers (Tomas-Barberan et al., 2001). Other potential phytochemical markers like abscisic acid may become floral markers in heather honey (Cherchi et al., 1994). Abscisic acid was also detected in rapeseed, lime, and acacia honey samples (Tomas-Barberan et al., 2001). Snow and Manley-Harris (2004) studied antimicrobial activity of phenolics. 

Jiang, M. and Zhang, J. (2002). Water stress-induced abscisic acid accumulation triggers the increased generation of reactive oxygen species and up-regulates the activities of antioxidant enzymes in maize leaves. Journal of Experimental Botany 53 2401-2410. 

When subjected to drought stress, excised wheat Triticum aestivum L.) leaves increase ethylene production as a result of an increased synthesis of ACC 71 and an increased activity of the ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) which catalyzes the conversion of ACC 71 to ethylene. Rehydratation to relieve water stress reduces EFE activity to levels similar to those in non-stressed tissue. Pretreatment of the leaves with N-benzyladenine (BA) 75 or indole-3-acetic acid lAA 76 prior to drought stress caused further increase in ethylene production. Conversely, pretreatment of wheat leaves with abscisic acid ABA 77 reduced ethylene production to levels of non-stressed leaves, accompanied by a decrease in ACC 71 content, Eq. (29). 

The second example described here is dormant seeds from Rosa canina. Extracts of these seeds also inhibit germination of seeds of several plants (10). In Figure 5 a scheme is given for extraction and separation oF"three different inhibitor compounds. All these are present in the acid fraction. The first essential step is chromatography on Sephadex LH-20, which separates inhibitor I from inhibitor II and III. Inhibitor I was identified as abscisic acid. The other two inhibitors were separated by methylation with diazomethane, fractional distillation, and column chromatography. The second inhibitor is the a-pyrone 1 . Reaction with diazomethane transforms it into the bi-cyclic compound 19. This bicyclic compound is even more active than the parent a-pyrone 1 . Since we sought structural requirements for bioactivity here also,we tested several synthetic a-pyrones ( 0 - 22) for bioactivity. These compounds had no inhibitory activity. We alio tested the cyclopropane derivatives 23 and 24 In Table II, the bioactivity of the bicyclic compound T9 and two such derivatives is compared. The presence of several carboxylic acid groups seems to be essential (or at least helpful) for bioactivity in this case also. 

Roles of Metabolites of Abscisic Acid. Nothing is known about the physiological role of PA and DPA in plants, although these two metabolites of ABA have been tested in several bioassays recently. In the cotton explant abscission assay PA had one-tenth of the activity of ABA (19). PA and DPA were equally effective in inhibiting a-amylase secretion by barley aleurone layers treated with glbberellin A3 DPA had approximately one-tenth of the activity of ABA in this system (74). The effect of PA on growth of bean embryos was negligible (75). 

Matthyssee and Phillips (20) isolated two nuclear proteins, from tobacco cells, that bound specifically to 2,4-D. Receptor proteins for auxins, kinetins, and GA have been found (21). Sub-cellular fractions from bean leaves were recently shown to bind abscisic acid (22). Preliminary experiments (22) indicated that maximum ABA binding activity coincides with the activities of membrane-bound Mg -dependent, K+-stimulated ATPase and glucan synthetase. Table I of Biswas and Roy (21) lists hormone receptor proteins reported in plant tissue. For a protein to qualify as a receptor molecule, it should have a high stereo-specific binding capacity (Kd 10 6 to 10 SM) for its particular hormone. In com coleoptiles, both IAA and NAA are equally effective in inducing cell elongations fractions of plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticular membrane contain receptor proteins with Kd values of 10 M to 10 M for auxins (5, 18). When one considers procedural... 

Abscisic acid is a negative regulator in that it primarily antagonizes the action of cytokinins, auxins, and in particular, gibberellins. Abscisic acid decreased the activity of polymerase in radishes (52), peas (53), maize coleoptiles (54), and pear embryos (55). More detailed studies are needed before the question of ABA-induced "modification" of RNA polymerase (54) or "alterations" in the number of sites for template activity (56) can be answered. In barley aleurone cells, ABA-induced suppression of GA-induced <-amylase formation was presumed to involve the continuous synthesis of a short-lived RNA (57). 

Bex, J. H. M. Effects of abscisic acid on the soluble RNA polymerase activity in maize of coleoptiles. Planta, 1972,... 

Bagni, N., Malucelli, B., and Torrigiani, P., Polyamines, storage substances and abscisic acid-like inhibitors during dormancy and very early activation of Helianthus tuberosus tissue slices, Plant Physiol., 49, 341-345, 1980. 

Plant products have also been detected in non-plant organisms. Morphine 1, the archetypal plant alkaloid, has in fact been shown to be a physiological plasma constituent and its production in mammals could be traced to the liver expression of the critical enzymes of its biosynthesis.17 In addition, the plant hormone abscisic acid 12 has been detected as an endogenous constituent of human brain,18 while caffeine 13 was isolated from a marine gorgonian (Paramuricea chamaelon)19 and the atisane diterpenoid serofendic acid 14, an inhibitor of the oxidant-induced mitochondrial death pathway and putative activator of mitoK(ATP) channels, has been characterised from foetal calf serum.20... 

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