Mark-
I am interested in doing measurements of the carbohydrate storage
capacity of Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), so I have been doing some reading
on assay methods. Two commonly cited papers (often in connection with CO2
effects) are:
Wong, S.C. 1990. Elevated atmospheric partial pressure of CO2 and plant
growth. II. Non-structural carbohydrate content in cotton plants and its
effect on growth parameters. Photosynthesis Research 23: 171-180.
Jones, M.G.K., Outlaw Jr, W.H. and O.H. Lowry. 1977. Enzymic assay of 10^-7
to 10^-14 moles of sucrose in plant tissues. Plant Physiol. 60: 379-383.
I haven't done the assays yet, so I can't give you practical comments at this
point. I do note that a number of enzymes are needed, putting the expense up
somewhat, and that access to a UV spec is needed.
I hope this is helpful; perhaps some other reader of the list has used these
methods and can provide some useful comments for both of us.
David J. Hicks djhicks at manchester.edu
Biology Dept., Manchester College
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phenomenon, we are interested in assays that we could use to quantify the
following properties: 1.) sugar concentrations in plant organs, 2.) starch
concentrations in plant organs, 3.) some measure of the relative amounts
of their nitrogen budget plants are spending on building and maintaining
their photosynthetic apparatus, and 4.) some measure of the relative
amount of their nitrogen budget plants are spending on proteins associated
with starch anabolism. Any assay that is selected will need to be
reasonably cheap and time effective, because the nature of phenotypic
plasticity studies nessitates sampling a large number of individuals (and
thus we thought that this forum may be an appropriate place for
assistance). We would be very interested in any citations that the members
of this forum could supply for such assays, as well as discussion of their
relative merits and weaknesses.
Sincerely,
Mark VanderMeulen
vander+ at pitt.edu
