Comparison Between the Effect of Dimethylformamide and Red Light on Anthocyanin Synthesis in Seedlings of Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek

Abstract

Summary The effect of dimethylformamide on anthocyanin accumulation in cotyledons isolated from 36 h old mung bean seedlings was studied both with dark-grown and with red-irradiated seedlings and the results compared with those from previous experiments on 48 h old seedlings. In this paper, it is shown that isolation of the cotyledons at the age of 36 h resulted in a lower anthocyanin accumulation as compared with cotyledons of intact seedlings. The inhibition caused by the isolation treatment could be counteracted to a great extent by dimethyl-formamide-treatment. On the other hand it has been shown in a previous paper (Dumortier and Vendrig, 1978) that isolation of the cotyledons at the age of 48 h did not significantly alter anthocyanin accumulation. In this case, dimethylformamide-treatment did not stimulate anthocyanin synthesis in spite of the fact that it stimulated anthocyanin accumulation in intact plants of the same age. Comparison of the effect of dimethylformamide on anthocyanin accumulation with the effect of red light indicates that dimethylformamide and red light probably act at different sites.