Effects of Flooding and Anoxia on Activities of Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Lactate Dehydrogenase in Maize Seedlings.

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

To investigate the effects of flooding and anoxic stresses on respiratory metabolism in maize (Zea mays L.), the seedlings of two cultivars (cv. Jelly Bantam and Popcorn) were subjected to the stresses, and the activities of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were determined. The relative importance of lactic and ethanolic fermentation was also characterized under such conditions. Flooding and anoxic stresses increased ADH activity in shoots and roots of two cultivars but the stresses did not increase LDH activity. The increases were greater in the roots than in the shoots of both cultivars under the flooding and the anoxic stresses, and greater in cv. Jelly Bantam than in cv. Popcorn under the flooding stress. Using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, only one ADH band was identified in extracts of the shoots and the roots of both cultivars under non-stress and three ADH isozemes were identified in the extracts under the stresses, which indicates that ADH subunit translation is increased by the stresses. These results suggest that the flooding and the anoxic stresses increase ADH activitiy in shoots and roots of two cultivars of maize but stresses do not increase LDH activitiy, and increased ADH activity may be due to increased synthesis of the enzyme.