Ethylene regulation of gene expression in carrots.

The respiration of carrot (Daucus carota L.) roots is stimulated by ethylene. Polyribosomes were shown to proliferate concomitantly with the increase in respiration, and the extent of polyribosome augmentation was closely correlated to the amount of respiratory stimulation. In addition to the increase in quantity, ethylene caused a 2-fold increase in the average polyribosome size, suggesting tighter packing of ribosomes on RNA. In vitro translation of carrot polyadenylylated RNA with the rabbit reticulocyte lysate system followed by electrophoresis of the resulting translation products showed that ethylene treatment results in the appearance of new mRNAs.