Free amino Acid contents of stem and phylloxera gall tissue cultures of grape.

Free amino acid constituents were determined of grape stem and Phylloxera leaf gall callus in tissue culture. Fast, medium and slow growing single cell clones of, respectively, stem and gall origins were grown on a mineral salt-sucrose medium supplemented with coconut milk and alpha-naphthaleneacetic acid. Stem and gall clones showed qualitative similarities and quantitative variations in the amino acids and nitrogenous constituents. Nineteen amino acids, glucosamine, ethanolamine, sarcosine, methionine sulfoxides and ammonia were identified. Two free polypeptides accounted for over 30% of the amino compounds in the stem and gall callus tissues which were not found in the intact plant parts. Stem clones of different growth rates grown on agar showed generally an excess of amino acid constituents over gall tissues of similar growth rates, except for the free polypeptides. Fast growing stem clones grown on agar medium contained lower amounts of certain amino acids than the fast growing gall clones, but when grown in liquid medium they contained higher amounts of these acids than the gall clones. The total and nonsoluble nitrogen of stem clones were higher than in the gall clones. Tissue cultures differed from the original plant parts with respect to their free polypeptides and high amino acid contents.