Glycine max signaling of environmental stress: Dynamics of inducible aromatic allelochemistry.

Treatment of Davis soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) with a proven stress elicitor, iodoacetic acid, which binds specifically with sulfhydryl groups, induced a defensive phytochemistry, which included increased concentrations of aromatic compounds. High-performance liquid chromatography resolved groups of peaks, including one that contains the major allelochemical daidzein and several that contained relatively nonpolar compounds. Some peak groups were increased quantitatively, while others were decreased by iodoacetic acid elicitation. The more significant differences in methanol-extractable HPLC-resolved aromatic metabolites between elicited and nonelicitedG. max apical leaves occurred at 24, 48, and 72 hr after elicitation.