A Study on the Nature of Autonomy in Neoplastic Plant Cells

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Abstract
An attempt has been made to characterize within the crown-gall tumor cell the metabolic systems that are primarily affected by alteration of normal plant cells to tumor cells. An essential difference appears to be the unmasking of two growth-substance-synthesizing systems, the first of which is concerned with cell enlargement and the second with cell division. In addition, the transition from slowly growing, relatively benign tumors to rapidly growing, potentially malignant tumors appears to be a gradual one involving quantitative rather than qualitative changes. The slowly growing tumors have had their requirements in terms of rapid growth only partially satisfied for the cell enlargement factor and an as yet uncharacterized factor present in yeast extract. The rapidly growing tumor cells are them-selves capable of synthesizing optimal or near optimal concen-trations of the cell enlargement, cell division and yeast extract factors.