Avena sativa L. contains three phytochromes, only one of which is abundant in etiolated tissue.

Phytochrome from leaves of light-grown oat (Avena sativa L. cv. Garry) plants is characterized with newly generated monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed to it. The results indicate that there are at least two phytochromes in green oat leaves, each of which differs from the phytochrome that is most abundant in etiolated oat tissue. When analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with reference to 124-kilodalton (kDa) phytochrome from etiolated oats, the two phytochromes from green oats have monomer sizes of 123 of 125 kDa. Immunoblot analysis of SDS, sample buffer extracts of lyophilized, green oat leaves indicates that neither the 125-kDa nor the 123-kDa polypeptide is a degradation product arising after tissue homogenization. Of the two, the 123-kDa phytochrome appears to be the predominant species in light-grown oat leaves. During SDS-PAGE in the presence of 1 mM Zn(2+), 123-kDa phytochrome undergoes a mobility shift corresponding to an apparent mass increase of 2 kDa. In contrast, the electrophoretic mobility of 125-kDa phytochrome is unaffected by added Zn(2+). Some MAbs that recognize 123-kDa phytochrome fail to recognize 125-kDa phytochrome and vice versa, indicating that these two phytochromes are not only immunochemically distinct from 124-kDa phytochrome, but also from each other. It is evident, therefore, that there are at least three phytochromes in an oat plant: 124-kDa phytochrome, which is most abundant in etiolated tissue, plus 123-and 125-kDa phytochromes, which predominate in light-grown tissue.