Radioimmunoassay for the determination of free and conjugated abscisic acid.

The characterization and application of a radioimmunoassay specific for free and conjugated abscisic acid (ABA) is reported. The antibodies produced against a bovine serum albumin-(±)-ABA conjugate have a high affinity for ABA (Ka=1.3x10(9)l mol(-1)). Trans, trans-ABA and related compounds, such as xanthoxin, phaseic acid, dihydrophaseic acid, vomifoliol or violaxanthin do not interfere with the assay. The detection limit of this method is 0.25x10(-12) mol ABA, the measuring range extends to 20x10(-12) mol, and average recoveries are 103%. Because of the high specificity of this immunoassay, no extract purification steps are required prior to analysis. Several hundred plants can be analyzed per day in a semi-automatic assay performance. ABA has been detected in all higher plant families examined, but was absent in the blue-green alga, Spirulina platensis, the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, and two species of fungi.