Different effects of 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol and its related compound on somatic embryogenesis in various Arabidopsis accessions

Abstract

Carrot inhibitory factor of somatic embryogenesis, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (4HBA), is released from carrot embryogenic cells (EC), and inhibit somatic embryogenesis in liquid culture. We reported that 4HBA and its related compound, vanillyl alcohol (VA) had not inhibited somatic embryogenesis on solidified medium from carrot hypocotyls, which were induced embryogenic competence (the 48th Annual Meeting of JSPP in 2007). 4HBA and VA also have weak affect Arabidopsis somatic embryogenesis (the 49th annual meeting of JSPP in 2008).
In this study, we reported that the effect of 4HBA and VA on somatic embryogenesis in various Arabidopsis accessions. We found several accessions, such as Ti-1 and Tsu-0 shows relatively higher sensitivity to VA and 4HBA, respectively, than Col-0. We are also analyzing the effect of 4HBA and VA on the expression patterns of various embryogenesis-specific genes. The function of these phenolic compounds for plant embryogenesis will be discussed.