XVI International Botanical Congess

Alcohol Dehydrogenase is the terminal enzyme of alcohol fermentation pathway. Two or more isozymes are observed in most of flowering plants. Some experiments suggest functional divergence among ADH isozymes. Activity of one isozyme is often induced when plants are exposed to anearobic stress, but other isozymes behave different patterns of ADH expression. Here, we report results obtained from a comparative study on ADH expression of 15 species in Asteraceae with allozyme analysis. The number of ADH isozymes are varied from two to four in diploid species. Picris hieracioides owns two isozymes expressed constantly and one which indicates the tissue specificity. Two isozymes of Aster savatieri are detected only in anoxia. ADH expression would be diversed rapidly amoug Asteraceae.