Nanism is one of the most frequent type of mutant in micropropagated banana plants from the Cavendish subgroup. The present study aimed at studying some of the hormone factors involved in this type of mutation. Rhizomes from normal and dwarf plants from the cultivar Grand Naine were incubated for 5 d in the presence of [³H]-L-tryptophan, [³H]-indole-3-acetic acid and gibberellin, to quantify the endogenous levels of indole-3-acetic acid-ester, indole-3-acetic acid-amide, free indole-3-acetic acid, and cytokinins. The endogenous levels of indole-3-acetic acid and its ester- and amide-conjugated forms were measured in normal and dwarf plants incubated for 30 d with gibberellin, indole-3-acetic acid, and L- and D-tryptophan. In normal plants, the use of [³H]-L-tryptophan resulted in higher levels of radioactivity in the retention times corresponding to indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-acetic acid-aspartate, indole-3-acetic acid-glycine and indole-3-acetic acid-alanine. These values were higher than those observed in dwarf plants. Higher quantities of radioactive indole-3-acetic acid and of amide-forms in dwarf plants occurred in rhizomes treated with [³H]-L-tryptophan and gibberellin simultaneously. The endogenous levels of total cytokinins were the same in both materials, while the levels of indole-3-acetic acid in normal plants were 1.5 times higher than in dwarf plants. Moreover, in these ones application of tryptophan and gibberellin coincided in an increase in the levels of free indole-3-acetic acid in dwarf plants and to a decrease in the levels of indole-3-acetic acid-ester and indole-3-acetic acid-amide.
indole-3-acetic acid metabolism; growth regulators; somaclonal variation
