Biochemical Basis of Resistance of Tobacco Callus Tissue Cultures to Hydroxyphenylethylamines.

It has been reported that hydroxyphenylethylamines, such as tyramine and octopamine, are toxic to tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) callus cultures grown in the presence of auxins, whereas calli grown in the presence of cytokinins and crown gall cultures are resistant to these amines (P. Christou and K.A. Barton [1989] Plant Physiol 89: 564-568). In an attempt to understand the underlying mechanism of this resistance, we compared the fates of tyramine in tyramine-sensitive and tyramine-resistant tobacco tissue cultures (cv Xanthi nc). The very rapid formation of black-colored oxidation products from tyramine in sensitive tissues suggested that the toxicity might be caused by the oxidation of tyramine by phenol oxidases present in the tissues or released into the medium after subculture. This was confirmed through many indirect procedures (effect of exogenously added tyrosinase, induction of polyphenol oxidase [PPO] activity by auxin, etc.). The study of tyramine structure-activity relationships further suggested that the toxicity of tyramine might be due to the formation of indolequinones after oxidation by PPO. Subculture of calli grown on 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in a medium containing benzyladenine triggered a slow decrease in PPO activity and dramatic increases in peroxidase and tyramine hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (THT) activities. THT was undetectable in calli grown on 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid but very active in tyramine-resistant crown gall cultures. Moreover, when [3H]tyramine was fed in vivo to tyramine-resistant tissues, it was rapidly integrated into cell walls in the wound periderm formed at the periphery of the calli. Both the conjugation of tyramine and its integration into cell walls could compete with the formation of toxic quinones and therefore play a part in the resistance. Thus, it seems likely that the control of the toxicity of hydroxyphenylethylamines by cytokinins results primarily from changes in the metabolism and the compartmentation of these amines.