Turnover rate is an important aspect of the regulation of plant processes by plant growth substances. To study turnover of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), two a-methyltryptophan-resistant lines (MTR1 and MTR2) of Lemna gibba were generated by nitrosomethyl urea treatment of an inbred line derived from L. gibba G-3. In this report we describe: (a) the development of a selection system using this near isogenic line of L. gibba; (b) techniques for chemical mutation of the lines and selection for a-methyltryptophan resistance; and (c) the partia1 characterization of the selected lines. MTR lines contained 3-fold higher levels of anthranilate synthase activity. The enzyme in the MTR lines required higher levels of tryptophan for feedback inhibition. MTR lines also contained 8-fold higher levels of tryptophan, 3-fold higher levels of free IAA, and similar levels of total IAA compared to the inbred line. Turnover rates in the inbred and selected lines were calculated, using the first-order rate equation, based on the decrease over time in isotopic enrichment of 13C,-IAA introduced into L. gibba during a 1-h pulse period. lsotope enrichment in IAA was determined by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both MTR lines had an approximately 10-fold higher rate of IAA turnover than the parent inbred lhe.IAA plays an important role in plant growth, development, and responses to the environment, yet after more than a century of study we still have large gaps in our knowledge of fundamental aspects of how the hormone acts and what controls its metabolism. One aspect of plant hormone metabolism that has attracted attention over the last 15 years is the rate of hormone turnover (Epstein et al., 1980;Nonhebel and Cooney, 1990). Hormonal homeostasis requires that increased rates of synthesis of IAA be offset by increasing rates of degradation, resulting in more rapid turnover. Studies of hormone turnover have been limited in number in part by lack of plant systems that overcome the difficulties of labeling interna1 pools. In many cases, IAA levels in plant tissues remain relatively constant, but changes in the rates of IAA biosynthesis and degradation are seen only as changes in turnover rate. To date we have information on turnover in only a few plants and no knowledge of how turnover might change relative to genetic, developmental, and environmental variation. Turnover can be expected to be an important metabolic parameter for hormone action, since rates of turnover must be rapid relative to the processes that are controlled by the particular hormone (see Cohen, 1983). A mechanism linking turnover and hormone action may involve the co-oxidation of plant fatty acids (Reineke, 1990).Studies of IAA biosynthesis have shown the utility of using mutants to study IAA and Trp metabolism (Wright et al., 1991;Normanly et al., 1993). Unlike mutants used for studies of metabolic pathways, those most useful for understanding the function of IAA turnover would not be auxotrophs, but rather would be modified in metabolism so as to result in...