Further investigations of liposoluble fluorescent compounds in senescing plant cells

The accumulation of liposoluble fluorescent compounds with excitation and emission fluorescent maxima in the bands of 350–370 nm and 410–440 nm respectively has been observed in the degrading (the late stationary phase) blue-green algae Anabaena variabilis Kütz and Anabaena cylindrica Lemm. cells, in the dark-senescing cotyledons from Phaseolus vulgaris L., and in more than 1-year-old leaves of evergreen plants (Ligustrum japonicum Thunb. and Osmanthus fortunei Carr.)- Spectral and chromatographic properties of the compounds are rather similar to those previously described in the cells of other senescing plant species. The role of lipid peroxidation in the formation of fluorescent pigments and in the ageing of plant cells is discussed.