Chemical differences between wildtype and gibberellin mutants of tomato determined by pyrolysis-mass spectrometry

Leaf, stem and root material of wild-type and gibberellin (GA)-deficient mutants of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.) were analysed by pyrolysis-mass spectrometry for possible differentiation in chemical allocation pattern among cell wall and cytoplasm. GA-deficiency is accompanied by changes in the relative growth rate (RGR). RGR-correlated changes were found in leaves in the comparative amounts of cellulose- and protein-derived fragments. The low-RGR genotypes contained more protein and nucleic acid, the high-RGR ones more cellulose. In root material, a higher contribution of cellulose, hemicellulose and G- and S-lignin was found for the lower-RGR plants and comparatively high protein in the high-RGR genotypes. For stems, less clear results were obtained, possibly because of variation in the ratio of syringyl- and guaiacyl-lignin. Part of the results might be explained by a GA-dependent change in cell size.