Inducing Effect of Coronatine and Methyl Jasmonate on the Opening of Spikelets in Wheat, Rye and Mildew

Jasmonates (JAs) is a new type of plant hormone, which is widely distributed in higher plants. JAs is a substance of signal transmission that regulates the expression of plant defense genes in response to various environmental stresses. Recently Zeng Xiaochun and Zhou Xie have observed that MeJA (methyl jasmonate), an important member of lAs, can induce the opening of spikelets in rice. Coronatine is a phytotoxin produced by several pathovars of the plant pathogenic Pseudomonas. Coronatine, which is a cyclopentane analog of JAs, can mimic the functions of IA/ MeJA in some aspects. It is worthy of researching if MeJA and coronatine can induce the opening of spikelets in wheat, rye and other plants. The experiments indicated that 4mmol/L MeJA and 1. 1-4. 4μmol/L coronatine can obviously induce the opening of spikelets in wheat. The difference in inductivity obviously exists among different plant varieties.