Auxin is required for pollination-induced ovary growth in Dendrobium orchids
Saichol Ketsa A C , Apinya Wisutiamonkul A and Wouter G. van Doorn BA Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
B Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 17, 6700AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
C Corresponding author. Email: agrsck@ku.ac.th
Functional Plant Biology 33(9) 887-892 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP06034
Submitted: 15 February 2006 Accepted: 18 May 2006 Published: 1 September 2006
Abstract
In Dendrobium and other orchids the ovule becomes mature long after pollination, whereas the ovary starts growing within two days of pollination. The signalling pathway that induces rapid ovary growth after pollination has remained elusive. We placed the auxin antagonist α-(p-chlorophenoxy) isobutyric acid (PCIB) or the auxin transport inhibitor 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid (TIBA) on the stigma, before pollination. Both treatments nullified pollination-induced ovary growth. The ovaries also did not grow after similar stigma treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), AgNO3 (both inhibitors of ethylene action), aminooxyacetic acid (AOA) or CoCl2 (which both inhibit ethylene synthesis), before pollination. Pollination could be replaced by placement of the auxin naphthylacetic acid (NAA) on the stigma. All mentioned inhibitors nullified the effect of NAA, indicating that if auxin is the initiator of ovary growth, it acts through ethylene. The results suggest that the pollination effect on ovary growth requires auxin (at least auxin transport and maybe also auxin signalling), and both ethylene synthesis and ethylene action.
Keywords: auxin, Dendrobium flower, ethylene action, ethylene production, ovary growth.
Acknowledgments
The research was financially supported by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF).
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