METABOLIC STUDIES OF GAMMA‐IRRADIATED WHEAT GROWING WITHOUT CELL DIVISION

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Abstract
Haber, Alan H., William L. Carrier, and Donald E. Foard. (Biol. Div., Oak Ridge Natl. Lab.,3 Oak Ridge, Tenn.) Metabolic studies of gamma‐irradiated wheat growing without cell division. Amer. Jour. Bot. 48(6): 431–438. Illus. 1961.—Wheat grains given 800 kr of Co60 gamma radiation before moistening can germinate and grow into small seedlings without cell division or desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis. This growth is sustained by metabolism and is not merely water uptake. The growing seedlings increase in dry matter, protein, and ribonucleic acid (RNA). They can perform photosynthesis by fixing carbon from CO2 into sugar phosphates, sucrose, amino acids, and organic acids. These results suggest that such irradiated cereals may be used for certain physiological and anatomical studies of germination and development in an intact growing organism in the absence of DNA synthesis, mitosis, and cell division.