Physiological and biochemical changes associated with flower development and senescence in Consolida ajacis Nieuwl cv. Violet blue

Abstract

Flower development of Consolida ajacis cv. Violet blue growing in the Kashmir University Botanic Garden (KUBG) was divided into six stages (I–VI) from the tight bud stage to the senescent stage. The average life span of an individual flower after it is fully open is about 4 days. Membrane permeability of sepal tissues estimated as electrical conductivity of leachates increased during senescence. The content of sugars and soluble proteins in the sepal tissues increased during flower opening and declined thereafter during senescence. The α-amino acid content registered an increase as the flowers opened and senesced. The protease activity increased as the flower progressed toward senescence. Flower opening was closely correlated to the sugar status of sepals, while the increase in the protease activity was commensurate with the decrease in the tissue content of soluble protein levels. The results suggested that the reduction in sugar status and the elevation in protease activity are among the important changes associated with the sepal senescence of Consolida ajacis flowers. SDS-PAGE of protein extracts from sepal tissues suggested a general decrease in the expression of some high molecular weight proteins and an increase in low molecular weight proteins during the flower development and senescence. At this stage, it is not known whether these polypeptides play an important role in the senescence of C. ajacis flowers. Understanding the nature of these proteins can provide new insights into the pathways to execute the senescence and the post-transcriptional regulation of senescence in this flower system.

Keywords

α-amino acids / flower senescence / Consolida ajacis / membrane permeability / protease activity / proteins

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. G H Dar and Prof. Z A Reshi for providing necessary laboratory facilities. The authors thank Prof. A Q John for cultivar identification. One of the authors, Waseem Shahri, thanks University Grants Commission (UGC, India) for providing junior research fellowship (JRF).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg