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Studies on the control of mitotic activity

The use of colchicine in the tagging of a synchronous population of cells in the meristem of Pisum sativum

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Summary

A tetraploid cell population was produced in the primary root meristem of Pisum sativum by one-half hour treatments with various concentrations of colchicine. The tetraploid population so produced was found to be reasonably synchronous in its passage through successive mitotic cycles with the degree of synchrony being more or less proportional to the concentration of colchicine used. The average time between mitoses appears to be of the order of 12 hours which agrees well with previous estimates. Treatments of roots containing tetraploid populations with 2.52 × 10−5 M. actidione for 15 minutes were used to demonstrate the possibility of using the system for studies on the differential susceptibility of cells at different stages of the mitotic cycle.

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This work was carried out under contract number RG-4835 of the National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service, and an Institutional Grant from the American Cancer Society.

Contribution number 59-26 of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

Predoctoral Fellow (CF-9871) of the National Cancer Institute, United States Public Health Service

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Van't Hof, J., Wilson, G.B. & Colon, A. Studies on the control of mitotic activity. Chromosoma 11, 313–321 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328658

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328658

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