PHENYLALANINE AMMONIA-LYASE AS A PRECURSORY ENZYME LEGUME STEM LIGNIFICATION

In some instances, lignin content may not be significantly correlated with phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity because: (1) PAL is not committed exclusively to lignin, and (2) the time of maximum PAL activity may not coincide with maximum lignin deposition. This study evaluates correlations and timing of PAL activity and lignin deposition during legume stem maturation. Three forage legumes, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), were established, and basal stem regrowth was sampled, biweekly, for 10 wk, for dry weight (DW), cell wall (CW), lignin, and PAL analyses. Nonlinear regression of lignin content by the Gompertz function indicated that lignin increased sigmoidally, and PAL activity by the third-order quadratic demonstrated rapid initial increases in activity, followed by decreases, as a function of regrowth days. First derivative of the Gompertz function demonstrated that changes in lignin deposition closely resembled changes in PAL activity. Among species, peak deposition of DW and CW content occurred 3-11 d prior to maximum lignin deposition. Time of maximum PAL activity occurred 8 d prior to maximum lignin deposition in birdsfoot trefoil and red clover and 3 days after maximum lignin deposition in alfalfa. Across species, lignin content was not positively correlated with PAL activity on a protein basis. However, lignin deposition was positively correlated with PAL per unit protein (r = 0.76, P < 0.05) and lignin content was positively correlated with PAL on a per plant basis (r = 0.60, P < 0.05). These results indicate that the activity of PAL is related to lignin deposition in a cause-and-effect relationship.