Abstract
Barley grains were dehusked, sterilized with calcium hypochlorite and cut in half transversely. The sterilized endosperm so obtained were treated for 22 hours at 24[degree]C in the presence and absence of 200 [mu]g gibberellic acid (GA), and the amylase activity of the ambient solution was measured and characterized. GA was demonstrated to cause an increase in [alpha]-, and [beta]-amylolytic activity as well as the initiation of activity of a 3d enzyme, similar in some aspects to [alpha]-amylase. It is postulated that a-amylase exists in an inactive state in the endosperm and is not secreted into the endosperm by the embryo. The activation of this and other enzymes during germination is probably dependent upon a series of processes set in motion through the liberation, by the embryo, of a GA-like substance into the endosperm.
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