GENOTYPIC VARIATION IN CYTOKININ OXIDASE FROM PHASEOLUS CALLUS-CULTURES

Genotypic variation in cytokinin oxidase has been detected in enzyme preparations from Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Great Northern and Phaseolus lunatus L. cv Kingston callus cultures. Although cytokinin oxidase preparations from Great Northern and Kingston callus tissues appear to have very similar substrate specificities, the cytokinin oxidase activities from the two callus tissues were found to differ in a number of other properties. The cytokinin oxidase from P. vulgaris cv Great Northern callus tissue exhibited a pH optimum of 6.5 (bisTris) and had a strong affinity for the lectin concanavalin A. The cytokinin oxidase from P. lunatus cv Kingston callus tissue exhibited a pH optimum of 8.4 (Taps) and did not bind to concanavalin A. The two enzymes also differed in position of elution when chromatographed on DEAE-cellulose. Both cytokinin oxidase activities exhibited enhanced activity and lower pH optima in the presence of copper-imidazole complexes, but the optimum copper-imidazole ratio and the magnitude of enhancement differed for the two activities. In both callus tissues, transient increases in the supply of exogenous cytokinins induced increases in cytokinin oxidase activity. The differences in pH optima and in glycosylation (as evidenced by the observed difference in lectin affinity) of the cytokinin oxidases from Great Northern and Kingston callus tissues suggest that the compartmentation of cytokinin oxidase may differ in the two callus tissues. The possibility that enzyme compartmentation and isozyme variation in cytokinin oxidase may play a role in the regulation of cytokinin degradation in plant tissues is discussed in relation to known differences in the rates of cytokinin degradation in Great Northern and Kingston callus tissues.