Changes in phytohormone levels following inoculation of two soybean lines differing in nodulation

Changes in the concentration of free and conjugated ABA, zeatin riboside (ZR), and IAA in response to Bradyrhizobium inoculation and subsequent nodulation were monitored in xylem sap, phloem sap, and leaves of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Williams 82] and its hypernodulating mutant, NOD1-3. In this study, pre-inoculation concentrations of phloem and xylem sap ABA and ZR were lower in NOD1-3 than in Williams 82, a difference that was accentuated in phloem after inoculation. The concentration of xylem ABA increased within 6h of inoculation, while the concentration of phloem and leaf ABA did not change until 48-96 h after inoculation. Leaf uptake of [³H]ABA and distribution to phloem sap was greater in Williams 82 than in NOD1-3 during 48-72h after inoculation. Inoculation resulted in similar increases in phloem and leaf IAA concentrations in both cultivars. While inoculation increased xylem sap ZR in both lines, the concentration of ZR increased much earlier in NOD1-3. Of particular interest is that ratios between hormones were altered during nodulation. Leaf and phloem ABA/IAA ratios were higher in Williams 82 than in the hypernod mutant, while the phloem IAA/ZR was greater from inoculation until nodulation in the NOD1-3 hypernod mutant. The xylem ABA/ZR ratio, as well as phloem ABA/ZR ratio, decreased in Williams 82 following inoculation, and leaf ABA concentration was elevated. The most noteworthy results of this study, therefore, came from an examination of the ratios between hormones in xylem and phloem sap, and the demonstration that hormone transport may play an important role in autoregulation of root nodulation.