| Abstract | Wheat plants were fed with C¹⁴O₂ at the stage of growth corresponding to rapid lignification. Thereafter, plants were harvested every few days until maturity. The specific and total activity of the plants, and the specific and total activity in some lignin degradation products were determined. Results indicated that (i) C¹⁴O₂ was still being respired from the plants at maturity, (ii) all the C14 which gets into the lignin does so within 24 hr. from the administering of C¹⁴O₂, (iii) the total activity originally acquired by the syringaldehyde portion of the lignin remains constant throughout the growth of the plant, that is, the lignin (as represented by syringaldehyde) is a final end product of the plant and is not a part of the respiratory system, (iv) the total activity originally acquired by the vanillin suffers an initial drop for about two weeks after activation and then becomes constant, (v) the p-hydroxybenzaldehyde activity drops continuously throughout the life of the plant. |
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