Exogenously applied melatonin stimulates root growth and raises endogenous indoleacetic acid in roots of etiolated seedlings of Brassica juncea

Qian Chen, Wen bo Qi, Russel J. Reiter, Wei Wei, Bao min Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

324 Scopus citations

Abstract

Exogenous melatonin was applied to etiolated seedlings of wild leaf mustard (Brassica juncea) and the effect on root growth and endogenous indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) levels determined. The results show that 0.1 μM melatonin has a stimulatory effect on root growth, while 100 μM is inhibitory. Furthermore, the stimulatory effect was only detectable in young seedlings (2-d old). Older seedlings (4-d old) appear to be less susceptible to both the stimulatory and the inhibitory effect of melatonin. Exogenous application of 0.1 μM melatonin also raised the endogenous levels of free IAA in roots, while higher concentrations had no significant effect. The specific mechanism that causes exogenous melatonin to increase the amount of free IAA in roots, paired with a stimulation of root growth, remains to be uncovered.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)324-328
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Plant Physiology
Volume166
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 15 2009

Keywords

  • Indole-3-acetic acid
  • Melatonin
  • Root growth
  • Wild leaf mustard

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physiology
  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Plant Science

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