Studies of Vegetative Plant Tissue Compatibility/Incompatibility: The Role of Acid Phosphatase in Lethal Cell Senescence in an Incompatible Heterograft

Abstract

Previous work has indicated that the graft incompatihility between Sedrmi telephoides and Solanum pennellil involves cell necrosis that results In a thick layer of collapsed cells at the graft Interface. This necrotic layer insulates the stock from the scion, which results in abscission of the Sedum scion after 4-6 weeks due to desiccation and starvation. Thus, cell autolysis (which is restricted to Sedum) characterizes the Incompatibility response in this system (1). In order to elucidate the events that lead to cell autolysis, and thus better understand the cellular site and mode of action of cellular incompatibility, the appearance and fate of the hydrolytlc enzyme acid phosphatase (AP) was followed in both the compatible Sedum autograft and the incompatible Sedum/Solanum heterograft. Acid phosphatase was localized by a modified Gomori-type reaction; positive (i.e., including NaF inhibitor) and negative (lacking substrate) controls showed no enzymatic precipitate. Following an initial association with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and dictyosomes at 6-10 hours after grafting, AP activity in the compatible Sedum autograft is associated primarily with the plasmalemma (Fig. 1). By 18-24 hours after grafting, the AP activity is restricted to the tono-plast and vacuole (Fig. 2). This strict compartmentation and absence of enzyme from the cytosol is maintained throughout the development of the compatible graft. While AP activity in the incompatible Sedum/Solanum heterograft is Initially similar to the compatible Sedum autograft (i.e., initially found on the ER and dictyosomes), there is a marked difference in enzyme localization in the two graft partners as the incompatibility response develops. As in the compatible autograft, Solanum cells at the graft interface show an Increase in AP activity that Is restricted to the vacuole and tonoplast, with little or no enzyme activity in the cytosol (Fig. 3). In comparable Sedum cells, however, there is a dramatic Increase In AP activity in the cytosol (Fig. h); this cytosollc AP activity is associated with thin fibril-like structures (Fig. 5) measuring approximately 60 A in diameter. This high cytoplasmic AP activity In Sedum cells results in cell autolysis, death, and eventual cell collapse to form the characteristic necrotic layer separating the two graft partners.