Induction of alcoholic and lactic fermentation in the early stages of anaerobic incubation of higher plants

Abstract

The dynamics of ethanol and lactate accumulation in detached roots of pea ( Pisum sativum) and of rice ( Oryza sativa), embryo of pea, discs of maple tree leaves ( Acer platanoides), and in apple fruit tissues ( Malus domestica) were investigated on transferring them from aerobic to anoxic conditions. In each of the tissues studied, the induction of lactic and alcoholic fermentations was a characteristic of the tissue under investigation: in pea roots both ethanol and lactate were formed within several min after the creation of anaerobic conditions, ethanol accumulation being much greater than that of lactate; no accumulation of lactate was observed in pea embryo, although ethanol synthesis took place rapidly from the very beginning of anaerobic incubation; in contrast to roots and embryo of peas; in rice roots, anaerobiosis immediately induced lactic fermentation, whereas alcoholic fermentation was much less pronounced. Tissues of apple fruit reacted to anaerobic conditions in a similar way to rice roots, although the rate of lactate and of ethanol accumulation was much lower. Maple leaves produced only ethanol under anaerobic conditions. The results obtained and findings of other investigators show that there is no single universal mechanism of induction of lactic and alcoholic fermentation in the organs of higher plants when they are transferred from aerobic to anaerobic conditions.