The binding constants of three auxin analogs, 4-, 5-, and 6-azidoindole-3-acetic acid (4-, 5-, and 6-N3IAA), and of the photoproducts of 5-N3IAAto the naphthalene-l-acetic acid (NAA) binding sites of Zea mays L. WF9 x BR38 were determined to evaluate the potential of these analogs as photoaffinity labeling agents. We have found that 4-and 5-N3IAA bind to these sites with affinities similar to that of IAA, while 6-N3IAA and the photoproducts of 5-N3IAA bind less tightly. This 3School of Chemical Sciences. 4Abbreviations: NAA, naphthalene-l-acetic acid; FCCP, carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone; NAA, naphthalene-1-acetic acid; N3IAA, azidoindole-3-acetic acid; 4-N3IAA, 4-azidoindole-3-acetic acid; 5-N3IAA, 5-azidoindole-3-acetic acid; 6-N3IAA, 6-azidoindole-3-acetic acid; RAC, ratio of association constants.that avoids the requirement that conditions for equilibrium binding be maintained while searching among the membrane proteins for specific auxin-binding sites. Once binding proteins are labeled, they can be isolated using standard techniques without the need to maintain equilibrium binding conditions. Therefore, the advantage of photoaffinity labeling is that binding proteins can still be isolated after they have lost the capacity for binding. Photoaffinity analogs bind reversibly to a site in the dark but can be caused to bind irreversibly by irradiation with light. Light induces the formation of reactive intermediates that attack nearby groups to form covalent bonds. The effectiveness of a photoaffinity agent, therefore, depends upon its affinity for the binding site in the dark and upon the half-lives of these photogenerated intermediates (4,24). The half-life of the ligandbinding site complex must be considerably longer than the halflives of the intermediates to achieve specific labeling.The only previous attempt to label the auxin site by affinity labeling was by Venis (26). He tested the usefulness of the diazonium salts of two auxin analogs, 2-chloro-4-aminophenoxyacetic acid and 2,5-dichloro-3-aminobenzoic acid, and reached tentative conclusions about the involvement of several amino acids in the auxin active site. The potential photoaffinity labeling agents 4-azido-2-chlorophenoxyacetic acid and 3-azido-5-chlorophenoxyacetic acid were found to have only moderate auxin activity (15), unlike the azidoindole-3-acetic acids here described. Spring and Hager (25) have recently demonstrated that sesquiterpene lactones specifically label important growth sites only when an auxin is also bound. The experiments provide an example of a nonequilibrium binding technique useful in auxin receptor research and are important because the results support a molecular model for auxin binding. The authors propose that auxin induces the receptor to undergo a conformational change, important for cell growth. Most significantly, the technique offers an independent assay for identifying auxin receptors and could be useful in conjunction with an independent approach such as we propose in this report.We ...