Full Length Research Paper

Investigating the effect of growth regulator, furolan on the nucleic acid content of winter wheat grains

Essien Okon^1,a,  Hannah Etta¹ and  Natali Nenco²

¹Department of Biological Science, Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, Nigeria.

^2,aDepartment of Food Engineering and Advanced Technology, Kuban State University of Technology, Krasnodar, Russia.

^*Corresponding author. E-mail:essyokon@yahoo.com

Accepted 15 May, 2013

Abstract

The germinating seeds of three winter wheat varieties namely Batko, Diya and Krasnodar 99 were investigated for the effect of growth regulator, Furolan on their nucleic acid contents which were determined by the following protocol procedures including; affinity  chromatography on poly (U) sepharose, thermal chromatography and electrophoresis methods after isolation of the total RNA. Results showed that the degree of polyadenylation of mRNA in the experimental variant actually exceeded the control in Batko, Krasnodar and the 99 varieties. In both Diya and Batko varieties, the content of 25S rRNA fraction in ripened wheat grain was increased by Furolan. In Batko variety, Furolan actually reduced the content of long-living rRNA (18S) fraction resulting in a lower growth intensity of wheat sprouts in experimental variant in comparison with the control. In Diya's variety the increase in the content of the fraction of long-living rRNA in experimental variant was in conformity with the activation of growth shoot systems of their sprouts. The ratio of 25S/18S rRNA fractions is suggested to be a useful cultivar trait.

Key words: Furolan, winter wheat, nucleic acids, total RNA, 25S/18S rRNA.