Cell division promoting activity of naturally occurring dehydrodiconiferyl glucosides: do cell wall components control cell division?

Naturally occurring isomers of the dehydrodiconiferyl glucosides have been isolated from Vinca rosea crown gall tumors and have been tested for cell division promoting activities in the tobacco pith and leaf assay systems. The enantiomeric isomers A and B are active, although they are required at concentrations up to 2 orders of magnitude higher than zeatin riboside to promote comparable growth. We estimate that the active dehydrodiconiferyl glucosides are present in rapidly growing tissues (tumor tissue, habituated tissue, cultured nontransformed tissue) in micromolar concentrations. In quiescent tobacco pith tissue, the levels of these compounds are reduced by a factor of 100. These results suggest that cytokinin may exert control of cell division through the accumulation of molecules (the dehydrodiconiferyl glucosides) that are apparent cell wall components.