Abstract
THE presence of a growth-inhibitory substance or substances in plant extracts, moving in paper chromatography with ammonical iso-propanol between R F 0.55 and 0.8 was first demonstrated by Bennet-Clark and Kefford1 who suggested the name inhibitor-β. These are now known to occur widely in plant material2,3, and according to Varga and Ferenczy2 the chromatographic behaviour is suggestive of a phenolic acid. Recently Bently4 reported that the inhibitor-β zone from potato peelings contained at least six components (possibly fatty acids) and that inhibition in Avena straight-growth assays was caused by toxicity at greater than normal physiological concentrations; shown by irreversability of the effect and by loss of turgor of the sections. One of these components was shown by Taylor5 to be azelaic acid.
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References
Bennet-Clark, T. A., and Kefford, N. P., Nature, 171, 645 (1953).
Varga, M., and Ferenczy, L., Naturwiss., 44, 398 (1957).
Ferenczy, L., Phyton, 9, 47 (1957).
Bently, J., ‘Ann. Rev. Plant Physiology’, 9, 47 (1958).
Taylor, W. C., Thesis, Univ. Manchester (1956).
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WILLIAMS, C. Action of Inhibitor-β on the Growth of Striga Seedlings. Nature 184, 1577–1578 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/1841577b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1841577b0
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