Effects of Trehalose on Flower Senescence from the View Point of Physical States of Water.

Abstract

A role of trehalose on physical states of water in cut bulbous flowers was determined by1H-NMR spectroscopy and the isopiestic psychrometer. Treatments with 100 and 50 mM trehalose markedly prolonged vase-life in gladiolus and tulip cut flowers, respectively. Trehalose maintained a higher degree of the water content accompanying with suppressing protein degradation and membrane integrity than the control tissues. The long fraction of spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) of the intracellular water in both tissues indicated that trehalose functioned to protect vacuolar water. Furthermore, trehalose affected to enhance water uptake into tepal tissues though not to promote cell elongation and not to cause osmotic adjustment with maintaining a high level of turgor. On the other hand, the short fraction of spinspin relaxation time (T2) estimated as bound water suggested that cytoplasmic water was also maintained. From these results, it suggests that trehalose does not act as an energy source nor directly participate in osmotic adjustment and these characteristics distinguish it from other sugars such as sucrose. In cut gladiolus and tulip flowers trehalose played an important role to prevent loss of water determined byT1, T2and turgor measurements.