Peroxidase isozymes of first internodes of sorghum: tissue and intracellular localization and multiple peaks of activity isolated by gel filtration chromatography.

Electrophoretic analyses using Sepraphore III strips indicate the presence of a minimum of five bands of peroxidase activity detectable with o-dianisidine and H(2)O(2) in extracts from first internodes of Sorghum vulgare var. Wheatland milo. Three of these isozymes were anodic and two were cathodic forms at pH 8.3. The relative amounts of these forms are compared in zero time and incubated excised internodes, stelar and cortical tissues of internodes, and in other parts of the plant. Localization of these isozymes with respect to walls and cytoplasm was characterized by differential centrifugation after grinding of the internodes and by an in situ extraction of walls by centrifugation after vacuum infiltration. Using the latter in situ method, 32% of the total activity of the fast moving cathodic form was exchanged from the wall after infiltration with 50 mm CaCl(2). Only trace amounts of the other isozymes were localized in the walls of the cortex. The isozymes were eluted as two peaks from columns of Sephadex G-100 and three peaks from Agarose A-15m. Although such groupings may be due to asymmetric molecules and ionic interactions as well as to molecular weight differences, they may indicate associations with complexes or membranes of different cytoplasmic constituents.