EN
Exogenously applied jasmonic acid methyl ester (JA-Me) inhibited biosynthesis and accumulation of anthocyanins in hypocotyls of seedlings of etiolated common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) exposed to light. The phenomenon was observed in experiments with various methods of JA-Me treatment, in whole seedlings and in excised hypocotyls. Even very low quantities of JA-Me taken by seeds during imbibition were enough to inhibit anthocyanin synthesis in buckwheat hypocotyls. This means that there are no significant barriers to the transport and action of JA-Me in buckwheat seedlings, as solute and in gaseous form. Although JA-Me inhibited accumulation of anthocyanins in buckwheat hypocotyls. it had no effect on phenylalanine and tyrosine ammonia-lyase activity. Such JA-Me action suggests that it can act not in the first but in later steps of anthocyanin biosynthesis. JA-Me had no effect on the level of anthocyanins in cotyledons or on hypocotyl growth, but clearly inhibited the growth of main roots of buckwheat seedlings.