Hormonal Regulation of alpha-Amylase Gene Transcription in Wild Oat (Avena fatua L.) Aleurone Protoplasts.

The time of appearance and relative amounts of alpha-amylase mRNA in wild oat (Avena fatua L.) aleurone protoplasts incubated with 1 micromolar gibberellin A(4) (GA(4)) were closely correlated with the amounts of alpha-amylase enzyme secreted by the protoplasts. In the absence of GA(4), or when protoplasts were incubated with 25 micromolar abscisic acid (ABA) together with 1 micromolar GA(4) no alpha-amylase mRNA was detected and only very low levels of alpha-amylase were secreted. Nuclei were isolated in high yields (65-71%) from aleurone protoplasts and in an in vitro transcription system displayed characteristics of a faithful DNA-dependent RNA synthesizing system. The time course of incorporation of [(3)H]-UTP suggested that the RNA synthesized was mainly ;run off' transcription and therefore that the transcripts produced in vitro were those being synthesized in the protoplasts at the times when the nuclei were isolated. By hybridizing in vitro synthesized [(32)P]RNA to barley alpha-amylase cDNA and control filters we have estimated that 90 +/- 10 ppm of the transcripts synthesized by nuclei isolated from GA(4) treated protoplasts can be attributed to alpha-amylase sequences and that statistically insignificant amounts of these transcripts are obtained from control and GA(4) plus ABA treatments. The results suggest that GA(4) and ABA influence the transcription of alpha-amylase genes in aleurone protoplasts of wild oat.