Structural and Biochemical Changes in Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda L.) Seeds During Germination and Early-Seedling Growth. I. Storage Protein Reserves

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Stone, S. L.
  • Gifford, D. J.

• Abstract: Quantitative and qualitative changes in the storage proteins of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seeds were followed during germination and early-seedling growth and were correlated with light-microscopic observations. In both the megagametophyte and the embryo, the cells of tissues from fully stratified seeds appeared very similar to the cells of tissues from mature desiccated seeds. A change in the appearance of protein vacuoles. resulting from the hydrolysis of storage proteins, occurred in the seedling prior to the completion of germination (denoted by radicle emergence from the seed coat) and continued during early-seedling growth. Within the seedling, storage proteins were mobilized more rapidly in the root pole, including the hypocotyl and radicle, than in the shoot pole, including the cotyledonary whorl, and shoot apex or epicotyl. In both parts of the seedling, protein hydrolysis was first observed in the procambial and epidermal tissue. In contrast to the seedling, changes in the appearance of protein vacuoles were not evident in the megagametophyte until after germination was completed. Changes in protein vacuoles in the megagametophyte occurred in two directional waves, relative to corrosion cavity proximity.

• Date created

  1997

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Body composition
  • Postfertilization
  • Monticola
  • Dormancy
  • Stratification
  • Localization
  • Cotyledons
  • Zygotic embryo
  • Deposition
  • Metabolism
  • Megagametophyte

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3Q18R

• License

  © 1997 University of Chicago Press. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.