Physiological responses to water deficiency in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines with genetically different leaf pubescence.

Studying the relationship between leaf pubescence and drought resistance is important for assessing Triticum aestivum L. genetic resources. The aim of the work was to assess resistance of common wheat genotypes with different composition and allelic state of genes that determine the leaf pubescence phenotype. We compared the drought resistance wheat variety Saratovskaya 29 (S29) with densely pubescent leaves, carrying the dominant alleles of the Hl1 and Hl3 genes, and two near isogenic lines, i: S29 hl1, hl3 and i: S29 Hl2aesp, with the introgression of the additional pubescence gene from diploid species Aegilops speltoides. Under controlled conditions of the climatic chamber, the photosynthetic pigments content, the activity of ascorbate-glutathione cycle enzymes and also the parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence used to assess the physiological state of the plants photosynthetic apparatus were studied in the leaves of S29 and the lines. Tolerance was evaluated using the comprehensive index D, calculated on the basis of the studied physiological characteristics. The recessive state of pubescence genes, as well as the introduction of the additional Hl2aesp gene, led to a 6-fold decrease in D. Under the water deficit influence, the fluorescence parameters profile changed in the lines, and the viability index decreased compared with S29. Under drought, the activity of ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase and dehydroascorbate reductase in the line i: S29 hl1, hl3 decreased 1.9, 3.3 and 2.3 times, in the line i: S29 Hl2aesp it decreased 1.8, 3.6 and 1.8 times respectively, compared with S29. In a hydroponic greenhouse, line productivity was studied. Compared with S29, the thousand grains mass in the line i: S29 hl1, hl3 under water deficit was reduced. The productivity of the line i: S29 Hl2aesp was significantly reduced regardless of water supply conditions in comparison with S29. Presumably, the revealed effects are associated with violations of cross-regulatory interactions between the proteins of the trichome formation network and transcription factors that regulate plant growth and stress response.

Formation of Pectobacterium carotovorum biofilms depending of the carbon source.

Microbial biofilms are a basic form of existence of bacteria in the environment, as well as in the animal and plant organisms. The patterns of biofilm formation depending on cultivation conditions is presently insufficiently studied. This paper presents experimental results on the effect of carbon sources on biofilm formation and movement on the swarming type in a phytopathogenic bacterium Pectobacterium carotovorum. A polyol inositol was shown to cause a significant activation of these processes.

[The antioxidant system of wheat seeds during germination]. / Antioksidantnaia sistema v prorastanii semian pshenitsy.

The dynamics of peroxidase activity and antioxidant contents in wheat seeds were studied in the course of 24-hour swelling at 5 degrees C (group 1) and 23 degrees C (group 2). Both parameters were 1.5 times higher in seeds of the first group. In the same seeds, peroxidase activity in the endosperm and seed coat increased by factors of 1.5 and 1.8, respectively. Catalytic constants of wheat seed peroxidase were determined in the reactions of o-dianisidine and ascorbic acid peroxidation. In the pH range studied (pH 5-7), Km proved to change only slightly. In seedlings, an increase in the lipid peroxidation rate was accompanied by an increase in the content of antioxidants. Peroxidase activity increased as the content of antioxidants decreased, and vice versa. Thus, the reciprocal influence of peroxidase and low-molecular antioxidants during seed germination in wheat was revealed.

[Mechanism of combined oxidation of ascorbic acid and hydroquinone in the presence of horseradish peroxidase]. / Mekhanizm sovmestnogo okisleniia askorbinovoi kisloty i gidrokhinona v prisutstvii peroksidazy khrena.

A steady-state kinetics of peroxidase cooxidation of ascorbic acid and hydroquinone catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase was studied. Ascorbic acid and hydroquinone were shown to be oxidized successively, and hydroquinone promoted the oxidation of ascorbic acid. Excess ascorbic acid inhibited peroxidase in the cooxidation of the substrates at pH 5-7. The values of catalytic constants, (kcat, K(m), and Ka) were determined. A possible activation mechanism of the peroxidation of ascorbic acid in the presence of hydroquinone was suggested, and its biological significance was considered.

Effect of antioxidants (digoxin, quercetin, and ascorbic acid) on catalytic properties of horseradish peroxidase.

Antioxidants (digoxin, quercetin, and ascorbic acid) inhibited the oxidation of o-dianisidine catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase. Digoxin bound with the enzyme-substrate complex which included a stable semioxidized product of o-dianisidine and inhibited horseradish peroxidase by the anticompetitive pattern, while the enzyme inhibition by quercetin followed the mixed pattern. The oxidation of ascorbic acid and o-dianisidine with their combined presence in the reaction mixture was differentiated. o-Dianisidine was oxidized after the oxidation of 90-100% of ascorbic acid was completed. The rate of peroxidase oxidation of ascorbic acid in the presence of o-dianisidine was more than two orders higher than the rate of its individual oxidation and 1.5-2.0 times higher than the rate of o-dianisidine oxidation. Feasible inhibition mechanisms of peroxidase oxidation of o-dianisidine are discussed.