Effects of Ethephon on Aerenchyma Formation in Rice Roots

The effects of ethephon on the constitutive aerenchyma formation in roots were studied with a rice variety Yangdao 6 as material. The number of air spaces formed by disintegrated cells in mediopellis increased significantly with the rising ethephon concentrations, whereas superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity showed downward trends. Compared with the control, the expression levels of xyloglucan endotransglycosylase (XET) gene were markedly higher both at the apical 10 mm and distal parts of roots in 100 mg/L ethephon treated plants. The accumulation of XET was supposed to be associated with the aerenchyma development. Furthermore, earlier cortical cell death was observed under the ethephon treatments, and most of nuclei of cells at 4 mm from the root apex disintegrated with many Golgi apparatus, mitochondria and membrane- bound vesicles around the cell wall.