Expression of α-amylase and other gibberellin-regulated genes in aleurone tissue of developing wheat grains

Aleurone tissue from freshly harvested immature wheat grains (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Sappo) which is normally unresponsive to gibberellic acid can be made responsive by subjecting the tissue to a pre-incubation treatment in a simple buffered medium prior to the addition of the growth substance. The effectiveness of this treatment is dependent on grain age, with grains less than 15-20 days post anthesis failing to become converted to a responsive state whilst tissue from grains older than this become increasingly susceptible. Tissue from grains of a certain age (approx. 25-28 days post anthesis) produce small amounts of α-amylase following this treatment even in the absence of exogenously applied growth substance. Using different (32)-labelled complementary-DNA probes for α-amylase in wheat it was demonstrated that the failure of freshly harvested tissue to produce α-amylase was correlated with the absence of the appropriate mRNA species. Inability to accumulate α-amylase mRNA in response to gibberellic acid was removed by the pre-iccubation treatment and also by enforced drying. The gibberellin-regulated expression of other unidentified genes also responds to pre-incubation or drying. Induction of gibberellin-responsiveness in immature aleurone cells did not extend to the secretion of acid phosphatase, protease and ribonuclease.