The altered gravitropic response of the lazy-2 mutant of tomato is phytochrome regulated

Abstract

Shoots of the lazy-2 (lz-2) gravitropic mutant of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) have a normal gravitropic response when grown in the dark, but grow downward in response to gravity when grown in the light. Experiments were undertaken to investigate the nature of the light induction of the downward growth of lz-2 shoots. Red light was effective at causing downward growth of hypocotyls of lz-2 seedlings, whereas treatment with blue light did not alter the dark-grown (wild-type) gravity response. Downward growth of lz-2 seedlings is greatest 16 h after a 1-h red light irradiation, after which the seedlings begin to revert to the dark-grown phenotype. lz-2 seedlings irradiated with a far-red light pulse immediately after a red light pulse exhibited no downward growth. However, continuous red or far-red light both resulted in downward growth of lz-2 seedlings. Thus, the light induction of downward growth of lz-2 appears to involve the photoreceptor phytochrome. Fluence-response experiments indicate that the induction of downward growth of lz-2 by red light is a low-fluence phytochrome response, with a possible high-irradiance response component