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The mitotic and endomitotic nuclear cycle in Allium carinatum

IV. 3H-uridine incorporation

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Abstract

Nuclear RNA synthesis has been studied in the course of the mitotic and endomitotic cell cycles occurring respectively in the tip meristem and the differentiating (elongating) region of Allium carinatum roots, by means of 3H-uridine autoradiography. The specificity of incorporation was tested by treatments with RNase and DNase, and the labelled RNA was characterized by its sensitivity to α-amanitin. RNA synthesis ceases during mitotic chromosome condensation, but continues through the endomitotic structural changes of the chromatin. Nuclei in comparable interphase stages incorporate the more 3H-uridine, the higher the degree of endopolyploidy (ratio about 1∶2∶4). The mean grain numbers counted over nuclei in G1 and G2 of the same cycle show, however, ratios of only 1∶1.31. Since the rate of RNA synthesis exhibits a closer relationship to the nuclear volume than to the nuclear DNA content, the synthesis of specific proteins might be necessary to make the reduplicated DNA available as a template. The possible function of the endomitotic cycle in cell differentiation is shortly discussed.

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  1. Botanical Institute of the University, Vienna, Austria

    W. Nagl

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  1. W. Nagl
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Nagl, W. The mitotic and endomitotic nuclear cycle in Allium carinatum . Chromosoma 44, 203–212 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329117

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