Contrasting Nucleolar Activity in Callus of Beet and Garlic as Visualised by a New Silver Staining Technique

抄録

Silver staining procedure has been modified to provide a rapid means of visualising nucleoli and NORs in a range of plant tissue including callus. Unlike the situation with beet, garlic callus was found to be composed of large numbers of cells possessing stained nucleoli. The number of nucleoli per cell varied depending upon the growth medium and hormone composition used for culture. On medium promoting organogenesis and subsequent plant regeneration, the nucleolar number per cell was lower than that in callus on non-regeneration medium, and similar to that in normal root tissue. Nucleolar number is therefore a marker for regeneration in callus. No such variation was found in beet, where no marker for regeneration was found.