Effect of Temperature and BASF 13 338 on the Lipid Composition and Respiration of Wheat Roots

The fatty acid composition of wheat seedling roots changed in response to temperature. As temperature declined, the level of linolenic acid increased and the level of linoleic acid decreased. The distribution of phospholipid classes was not influenced by temperature. Phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine were the predominant phospholipids isolated and comprised 85% of the total lipid phosphorus. Smaller quantities of phosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidyl inositol, phosphatidic acid, and phosphatidyl serine were isolated. The fatty acid composition of phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine were the same and temperature affected the fatty acid composition of both phospholipids in the same manner.Growth in the presence of the substituted pyridazinone, BASF 13 338 (4-chloro-5-dimethylamino-2-phenyl-3(2H)pyridazinone), reduced the level of linolenic acid and increased the level of linoleic acid in the phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, and total polar lipid fractions. BASF 13 338 did not affect the levels of palmitate, stearate, and oleate or the distribution of phospholipid classes.Respiration rates of wheat root tips were measured over a range of temperatures. The respiration rate declined as the temperature decreased. Neither the temperature at which the tissue was grown nor BASF 13 338 treatment influenced the ability of root tips to respire at any temperature from 4 to 30 C. The results indicated that the relative proportion of linolenic acid to linoleic acid did not influence the plants ability to grow and respire over the range of temperatures tested.