Nojirimycin (5-amino 5-deoxy-D-glucopyranose), at concentrations of 0.1 to 3.0 nM, is a potent inhibitor of IAA-induced growth of excised Avena coleoptile and pea stem segments. Both the rapid initial responses to IAA as well as sustained growth are affected, however growth of sections not treated with IAA is relatively unperturbed for incubation periods up to 9 hr in the presence of the inhibitor. There is no evidence for competitive effects involving nojirimycin and IAA, as increasing the auxin concentration does not reverse the inhibition. Analysis of cell wall components of sections treated with nojirimycin shows that a parallel relationship exists between the extent to which glucose is removed from the noncellulosic polysaccharides and the amount of tissue growth. Since nojirimycin is an inhibitor of exo-β-glucanases, these results implicate a role for this enzyme in IAA-induced modification of noncellulosic wall glucan and a requirement for such enzymes in IAA-induced cell extension.
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D. J. Nevins (1975) studied this question.