Potamogeton pectinatus is constitutively incapable of synthesizing ethylene and lacks 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase

A highly sensitive laser-driven photoacoustic detector responsive to less than or equal to 2.1 nmol m(-3) ethylene (50 parts per trillion [v/v]) was used for ethylene analysis. Dark-grown plants of Potamogeton pectinatus L. growing from small tubers made no ethylene. Exposure of shoots to white light, wounding, submergence in water followed by desubmergence, partial oxygen shortage, indole acetic acid, or carbon dioxide failed to induce ethylene production, although clear effects were observed in Pisum sativum L. Some ethylene was released after applying high concentrations of the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC; 10 mol m(-3)) to P. pectinatus, but the amount was trivial compared with that released by P. sativum. More endogenous ACC was found in P. pectinatus than in P. sativum. Considerable ACC oxidase activity was present in tissue extracts of P. sativum. However, no ACC oxidase activity was found in P. pectinatus, indicating that this is where ethylene production is arrested.