Comparison between Aging of Slices and Ethylene Treatment of Whole White Potato Tubers.

Cyanide-resistant O(2) consumption can be stimulated by either treating whole white potato tubers (Norchip) with ethylene, in the presence of 100% O(2), or aging slices obtained from untreated potato tubers. A comparison of alternative pathway activity elicited by either treatment was undertaken. The proportion of electrons flowing through the alternative path in the presence of intermediate concentrations of KCN and at various concentrations of salicylhydroxamic acid was identical in both cases. However, the respiration of slices from ethylene-treated tubers was in every case stimulated by KCN, whereas the aged slices never exhibited this phenomenon. Furthermore, the metabolism of d-[U-(14)C]glucose was several hundred times greater in aged slices than in fresh slices from C(2)H(4)-treated tubers. These results, along with the respiratory kinetics of aged slices from ethylene-treated tubers, suggest that aged slices and fresh slices from ethylene-treated tubers are biochemically dissimilar.