Experimental Modification of Pigment Content and Phototropic Sensitivity in Excised Avena Coleoptiles

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Abstract
Avena seedlings were imbibed and germinated in the presence of inhibitors of carotenoid biosynthesis. After excision and defoliation, the coleoptiles were cultured in the presence of these basally supplied inhibitors and their growth, phototropic behavior and pigment content were subsequently measured. Total carotenoids could be reduced to ca. 20 percent of the control value without marked influence on the dose‐response curve for the first positive curvature. Chromatographic analysis of extracted carotenoids on alumina columns revealed that the inhibitors produced both qualitative and quantitative changes, reducing one fraction and virtually eliminating two others. The total riboflavin content of the coleoptiles was almost completely unaffected by these treatments. The data are applied to an analysis of the nature of the photoreceptor in phototropism of the Avena coleoptile.