Effect of Dicamba on RNA and Protein

Abstract

The effect of 3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid (dicamba) was studied on wild buckwheat (Polygonum convolvulusL.) and wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) at two growth stages. Wild buckwheat, treated when 5 to 8 cm tall, was very susceptible to dicamba which caused rapid dehydration of the leaves and growth of callus tissue at stem internodes. Wild buckwheat, treated when flowering, increased in growth 2 days after treatment and then decreased after 4 days. Wheat growth tended to increase in all plant parts after treatment with dicamba at both the 2 to 3-leaf and the boot stages. Dicamba increased the RNA and protein content in wild buckwheat at both growth stages and in wheat at the boot stage. Dicamba affected the transition temperature and precipitation of reconstituted nucleohistone but not the uncombined nucleic acid or histonein vitro, indicating that a DNA-histone-dicamba complex had occurred. The binding of dicamba to protein varied with different proteins and reduced the UV absorbance of the bound proteins.