Abstract Plant development depends on coordination of growth between different cell layers. Coordination may be mediated by molecular signalling or mechanical connectivity between cells, but evidence for genetic control via direct mechanics has been lacking. We show that a brassinosteroid-deficient dwarf mutant of the aquatic plant Utricularia gibba has twisted internal tissue, likely caused by a mechanical constraint from a slow-growing epidermis creating tissue stresses. This conclusion is supported by showing that inhibition of brassinosteroid action in an Arabidopsis mutant compromised for cell adhesion, enhances epidermal crack formation, an indicator of increased tissue tension. Thus, genes driving brassinosteroid synthesis can promote growth of internal tissue by reducing mechanical epidermal constraint, showing that tissue mechanics plays a key role in coordinating growth between cell layers. One-Sentence Summary Internal twists in a mutant carnivorous plant reveal how genes control growth via tissue mechanics.
1. The pigeon drank copiously after a short latency in response to intracerebro‐ventricular (I.C.V.) infusion of angiotensin II dissolved in isotonic NaCl. There were small, insignificant increases in urinary excertion so that the increased water intake caused the pigeon to go into positive fluid balance. Water was chosen in preference to 0·3 M‐NaCl, which was also available to drink in these experiments. 2. I.C.V. infusion of angiotensin dissolved in water, or in isotonic or hypertonic solutions of non‐eletrolytes, or in KCl or CaCl 2 resulted in about half the water intake produced by angiotensin dissolved in isotonic NaCl. 3. I.C.V. infusion of hypertonic NaCl alone caused drinking. I.C.V. infusion of angiotensin dissolved in hypertonic NaCl caused an amount of water to be drunk that was a simple addition of the amounts drunk in response to angiotensin dissolved in isotonic NaCl and to the extra amount of NaCl. 4. Drinking in response to I.C.V. infusion of two other dipsogenic peptides, eledoisin and physalaemin, was similarly affected by the composition of the solutions in which they were dissolved. 5. The pigeon also drank in response to intravenous (I.V.) infusion of angiotensin II dissolved in isotonic NaCl. Urine flow and sodium excretion increased markedly so that the pigeons just maintained fluid balance. 6. In contrast to the reduction in intake when angiotensin was infused I.C.V. dissolved in hypertonic non‐electrolytes, I.V. infusions of angiotensin dissolved in hypertonic non‐electrolytes caused enhanced drinking, compared with the corresponding infusions of angiotensin dissolved in isotonic NaCl. 7. Drinking induced by I.V. infusion of angiotensin was little affected by simultaneous I.C.V. infusion of isotonic or hypertonic sucrose, or water, but it was increased by simultaneous I.C.V. infusion of hypertonic NaCl. 8. Drinking responses were partly additive when angiotensin was given by simultaneous I.C.V. and I.V. infusion. 9. The increased urine flow and electrolyte excretion in response to I.V. infusion of angiotensin were little affected by simultaneous I.C.V. infusion of angiotensin. 10. These experiments suggest that in the pigeon there may be separate sets of receptors in the cerebral ventricles for initiating drinking, one set responding to angiotensin, another to hypertonic NaCl. Outside the blood—brain barrier, and accessible to blood‐borne substances, there may also be separate sets of receptors, one set responding to angiotensin, another to increases in effective osmolality of the blood.
1. Intravenous infusion of the individual components of the renin-angiotensin system caused drinking in dogs in water balance. 2. Angiotensin II was the most potent and rapidly acting peptide inducing drinking. The minimum effective rate of infusion was between 8.3 and 16.6 X 10(-12) mole kg-1 min-1 which yield blood levels of angiotensin II that fell well within physiological limits for the dog and were mildly pressor. Angiotensin I and synthetic renin substrate caused less drinking than angiotensin II, and angiotensin III was the least effective dipsogen. 3. Renin caused significant drinking when infused I.V. at a rate of 0.5 u. min-1 for 15 min. Drinking was slower in onset and continued for longer than after other components of the renin-angiotensin system. 4. Within the dose range 1875-15,000 X 10(-12) mole of angiotensin II the amount of water drunk depended more on the rate of infusion than on the duration of the infusion. 5. During an I.V. infusion of angiotensin II lasting 2 hr, the rate of drinking was greatest during the first 15 min. After this declined progressively. 6. A delay of 1 hr after the start of an intravenous infusion of angiotensin II before access to water was allowed, did not significantly reduce the amount of water drunk. Nor did infusion of isotonic saline for 105 min reduce drinking in response to a subsequent infusion of angiotensin II. However, a preload of dilute milk approximately equal in volume to the amount of water normally drunk in response to I.V. angiotensin II significantly reduced drinking. Therefore the dog stopped drinking during long-term infusions of angiotensin II owing to the action of satiety mechanisms and not to tachyphylaxis or fatigue. 7. Intracarotid infusion of angiotensin II, angiotensin I, synthetic renin substrate and angiotensin III, at 40 X 10(-12) mole min-1 also caused drinking. Intakes of water were similar to the intakes after I.V. infusion at six times the arterial rate, except that angiotensin I was relatively less effective by intracarotid infusion than by I.V. infusion. 8. Renin, infused at 0.5 u. min-1 for 15 min, was much less effective by intracarotid infusion than by intravenous. 9. These results are compatible with a role for circulating angiotensin II in the thirst of hypovolaemia or moderate extracellular dehydration.
In small (0.5 mg/kg) subcutaneous doses, the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, captopril, greatly enhanced drinking in response to caval ligation in the rat. Drinking was not secondary to urinary water loss since the rats developed a substantial positive fluid balance. High (50 mg/kg) subcutaneous doses of captopril reduced drinking to a level below that following caval ligation alone. This effect could be mimicked by giving repeated intracerebroventricular injections of captopril (total amount 110 micrograms) to rats treated with the lower subcutaneous dose of captopril. With this combination, therefore, not only did the lower dose enhancement disappear, the basal caval ligation drinking response was also reduced with a total dose of captopril of less than 2% of the higher subcutaneous dose alone. These results show that, when conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II is prevented in the brain as well as systemically, drinking in response to caval ligation is reduced although not entirely prevented. The original report that such drinking is multifactorial, depending on angiotensin as well as nonangiotensin mechanisms, is confirmed.
1. The pigeon drank as vigorously in response to intracranial injection of synthetic renin substrate and angiotensin I as to angiotensin II. 2. Mammalian renin injected into the brain caused the water‐replete pigeon to drink but it was a less effective dipsogen than in the mammal. As in the mammal, renin‐induced drinking was slower in onset and continued for longer than angiotensin‐induced drinking. 3. The converting enzyme inhibitor SQ 20881 attenuated drinking in response to intracranial renin, synthetic renin substrate and angiotensin I but enhanced intracranial angiotensin II‐induced drinking. Therefore drinking induced by the intracranial injection of precursors of angiotensin II is mediated through local generation of angiotensin II. 4. I.V. injection of angiotensin I was as effective as angiotensin II in causing the pigeon to drink, but synthetic renin substrate was less effective. I.V. doses of angiotensin I and II had to be about 100 times greater than the intracranial doses in order to produce similar intakes. 5. Angiotensin I and II were equally effective pressor agents by I.V. injection in the pigeon but synthetic renin substrate was much less effective. I.V. SQ 20881 inhibited the pressor response to I.V. synthetic renin substrate or angiotensin I but enhanced the angiotensin II‐induced response. 6. Aliphatic position 8‐substituted analogues of angiotensin II which are competitive antagonists of angiotensin II‐induced drinking and pressor responses in the mammal in antagonist:agonist mole ratios as low as 10:1, failed to reduce drinking in response to intracranial synthetic renin substrate or angiotensin II, although not themselves agonists, nor did they prevent the pressor to infusion of angiotensin II even with antagonist:agonist mole ratios as high as 10,000:1. 7. Shortening the angiotensin octapeptide from the N‐terminus caused a progressive reduction in intracranial dipsogenic activity. Activity was completely abolished by removing the C‐terminal phenylalanine. 8. These results demonstrate that in pigeons, as in mammals, it is angiotensin II which is the biologically active peptide in the control of drinking behaviour and blood pressure by the renin‐angiotensin system. Precursors of angiotensin II can be converted to the octapeptide in the avian brain as well as in the circulation. The angiotensin receptors for drinking and blood pressure responses are similar to each other in the pigeon and they are very similar but not identical with the angiotensin receptors for the dipsogenic, pressor and myotropic actions of angiotensin II in mammals.