Abstract
Meiosis is a key step in sexual plant reproduction. Cytological analysis of meiosis enables hypotheses of gene function during meiosis to be confirmed or discarded. Observation of meiosis in the female reproductive organs in many higher plants is technically challenging because the cells are enclosed deep within the nucellus and ovule tissues. In this chapter, we describe a simple staining procedure using Schiff’s reagent optimized for use with confocal microscopy to observe meiosis within intact ovules of Zea mays (maize). Using this procedure we present images taken by confocal laser scanning microscopy of wild-type meiotic cells in whole-mount maize ovules.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to the Lincoln University Biotron Facility (New Zealand) for access to plant growth room facilities. This work was supported by New Zealand’s Ministry of Science and Innovation (contract C02X0808) and the University of Zürich, Switzerland.
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Barrell, P., Grossniklaus, U. (2013). Examining Female Meiocytes of Maize by Confocal Microscopy. In: Pawlowski, W., Grelon, M., Armstrong, S. (eds) Plant Meiosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 990. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-333-6_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-333-6_5
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
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