Abstract
Dried leaves of Prunus yedoensis and P. lannesiana (50 mg) showed strong inhibitory allelopathic activities, e.g., more than 97% growth inhibition of lettuce seedling using the sandwich method. Similarly, among suspension cultures induced from leaves and peduncles of two Prunus species, we found the strongest inhibitory allelopathic activities of protoplasts of leaf-origin suspension cells of P. yedoensis, when the protoplast co-culture method for bioassay of allelopathy was applied with lettuce as a recipient plant. Effects of two putative allelochemicals, abscisic acid and coumarin, on both protoplast cultures of lettuce and P. yedoensis were investigated. Coumarin inhibited the growth of lettuce protoplasts from low concentrations, while abscisic acid stimulated. Abscisic acid inhibited the protoplast growth of P. yedoensis from low concentrations, while coumarin did not, but inhibited only at a high concentration (1 mM). Contents of abscisic acid in protoplasts were measured using small scale purification and Enzyme Linked Immno Sorbent Assay, and contents of coumarin in leaf-origin susepension cells of P. yedoensis were measured using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Coumarin was more likely the allelochemical causing the strong inhibitory allelopathic activities of P. yedoensis in the protoplast co-culture bioassay. Effectiveness of the protoplast co-culture bioassay method of allelopathy was discussed.
Highlights
Prunus yedoensis Matsum. (Somei-yoshino) [1] is famous for its beautiful cherry blossom in spring
Compared with the previous data of many plant species using the sandwich method [2] [18], Prunus in this report is in the group of very strong allelopathic activities, though young leaves of Prunus were used in this report
The results obtained with leaves of P. lannesiana sterilized with NaClO aqeous solution before drying the leaves was not different from those obtained without the treatment (Table 1)
Summary
Prunus yedoensis Matsum. (Somei-yoshino) [1] is famous for its beautiful cherry blossom in spring. The trees have been planted in many places in Japan, and are used as an environmental indicator since their growth is affected by global warming. It is a hybrid clone with P. lannesiana as one of its parent. Fujii et al investigated allelopathic activities of many plant species by measuring the effects of dried leaf litter on the growth of lettuce seedlings using an in vitro bioassay method, the sandwich method [2]. Allelopathy of a few fruit Prunus species has been known [3] [4], though its strength is not clear. The inhibitory allelopathic activity in methanol extracts of Prunus species was reported in 168 plant species investigated using lettuce as a recipient plant [5], though the specific species of Prunus is unclear
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