Isoenzymes of peroxidase and esterase related to morphogenesis in Mammillaria gracillis Pfeiff. tissue culture.

In vitro propagated plants of the cactus Mammillaria gracillis Pfeiff. (Cactaceae) spontaneously produced callus. The habituated callus regenerated normal and hyperhydric shoots without the addition of grown regulators. Tumours were obtained by infecting cactus explants with Agrobacterium tumefaciens; the wild strain B6S3 (tumour TW) or with the rooty mutant GV3101 (tumour TR). Both tumour lines grew vigorously, never expressing any morphogenic potential. In this study, cactus shoots, callus, normal and hyperhydric regenerants and TW and TR tumours were compared with regard to peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7) and esterase activity, and isoenzyme patterns. Guaiacol peroxidase activity was the lowest in the cactus shoots and in the normal regenerants. Callus, hyperhydric regenerants and tumours had peroxidase activity of 6 to 7 times higher. Esterase activity was measured with 1- and 2-naphthylacetate as broad-spectrum substrates. The highest esterase activity was determined in tumours with both substrates. All tissues, except the TR tumour, had higher esterase activity for 2-compared to 1-naphtylacetate. Peroxidase and esterase isoenzyme patterns were not completely identical among the investigated tissues.