The action of exogenous abscisic acid on malate-synthase synthesis in germinating castor-bean seeds.

The presence of 30 μM abscisic acid inhibited development of malate-synthase activity in the endosperm of germinating castor-bean seeds. Malate synthase was purified from castor-bean endosperms and an antibody to it was prepared from rabbit serum. This antibody was used to measure the amounts of malate-synthase mRNA using an in-vitro translation system. The effect of abscisic acid appeared to be greater on malate-synthase mRNA than on the bulk of mRNA, indicating some specificity of abscisic-acid action. The extent of the inhibition of malate-synthase activity and of malate-synthase mRNA accumulation were similar. This indicates that abscisic acid inhibits malate-synthase activity by lowering levels of translatable malate-synthase mRNA rather than by affecting the translation rate of this mRNA.