Membrane Lipids in Senescing Flower Tissue of Ipomoea tricolor

Rib segments excised from flower buds of Ipomoea tricolor Cav. pass through the same phases of senescence as the respective tissue on the intact plant. Such segments were used to correlate changes in lipid content with known symptoms of aging, such as rolling up of the ribs and ethylene formation. It was found that the level of phospholipid had already started to decline before visible signs of senescence were evident. As the segments began to roll up and to produce ethylene, the rate of phospholipid loss accelerated sharply. During the same period, the level of fatty acids esterified to phospholipids also fell by 40%. No qualitative changes in any lipid component could be detected during senescence. Labeling experiments using (33)P as marker showed that the rate at which radioactivity was lost from phospholipids during aging was parallel to the rate at which the level of total phospholipids declined. Exogenously applied ethylene accelerated the loss of phospholipid and the senescence of rib segments while benzyladenine retarded both of these processes.Ag(+), which counteracts the effect of ethylene in many plants, inhibited rolling up of the rib segments but did not affect either spontaneous and ethylene-induced ethylene generation, or phospholipid loss. In contrast, Co(2+), a purported inhibitor of ethylene synthesis, reduced ethylene production, rolling up, and phospholipid loss. The inhibition of ethylene-induced rolling up by Co(2+) could not be overcome with exogenous ethylene, however.Our results indicate that phospholipid loss is a marker for membrane degradation in rib segments. Changes in membrane integrity and in cellular compartmentation may be the basis for ethylene synthesis during aging of flower tissue.