Mugineic acid secretion by cultured barley cells derived from anther

We succeeded in obtaining barley cell cultures which produce and secrete mugineic acid under the iron-deficient conditions. Cells derived from anther tissues of a six-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Dissa) were cultured in the iron-deficient medium for 9 months and culture solutions were analyzed with HPLC and TLC at every transfer time. Cells cultured in the iron-deficient medium secreted at least five compounds which can solubilize iron, and one of them was identified as mugineic acid. While the amounts of mugineic acid and other unknown compounds varied at each sampling time, changes in their amounts occurred in parallel periodically.