Electrophoretic Patterns of Xanthium Leaf Extracts as Affected by Physiological Age of Leaf, Photoperiod, & Age of Plant

Abstract

Soluble macromolcular leaf components were studied in relation to flowering. Thus, free-boundry electrophoresis was used to compare extracts of fully-expanded, half-expanded, expanding and apex leaves of Xanthium pennsylvanicum. Of the 4 peaks detected 3 (denoted as components C, D, and E) showed a relative decrease with leaf age and on (B) showed an increase. In the expanding leaves of 44-day-old plants, grown under long-day conditions, component B was almost absent and C was dominant while under short-day conditions component C decreased and B increased to the value of C. The electrophoretic patterns of leaf extracts from 16-day-old plants were not affected by photoperiod.