Effects of subminimal temperature on physiology and ultrastructure of <i>Zea mays</i> embryo during germination

Crèvecoeur, Michèle; Deltour, R.; Bronchart, R.

doi:10.1139/b83-119

Scientific article

English

Effects of subminimal temperature on physiology and ultrastructure of Zea mays embryo during germination

Contributors

Crèvecoeur, Michèle; Deltour, R.; Bronchart, R.

Published in

Canadian journal of botany, vol. 61, no. 4, p. 1117-1125

Publication date

1983

Abstract

The effects of a subminimal temperature on germinating Zea mays kernels have been studied at the physiological and ultrastructural levels. After 72 h of germination at 16 °C, kernels were exposed to 4 °C for intervals ranging from 4 to 25 days and then returned to 16 °C. Resumption of growth of all the embryos occurred when the cold exposure was 6 or 8 days. When periods at 4 °C were longer than 8 days, a decrease in the percentage of embryos able to grow was observed; this was proportional to the length of cold exposure. After 26 days or more at 4 °C, all the embryos died. An ultrastructural study of the primary root cells showed that modifications occur in the cytoplasm and in the nucleolus. The nucleolus became predominantly fibrillar and unusual ribonucleoproteinic granules were frequently observed in and near the nucleolus organizer region. These changes were related to a strong decrease in transcription.

UNIGE affiliation entities

Not a UNIGE publication

Citation (ISO format)

CRÈVECOEUR, Michèle, DELTOUR, R., BRONCHART, R. Effects of subminimal temperature on physiology and ultrastructure of Zea mays embryo during germination. In: Canadian journal of botany, 1983, vol. 61, n° 4, p. 1117–1125. doi: 10.1139/b83-119

Identifiers

PID : unige:9697
DOI : 10.1139/b83-119

Additional URL for this publication

http://www.nrc.ca/cgi-bin/cisti/journals/rp/rp2_abst_e?cjb_b83-119_61_ns_nf_cjb61-83

Journal ISSN

0008-4026

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