Onset of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis in Germinating Wheat Embryos

Germinating wheat embryos (Triticum vulgare var. Florence) synthesize proteins before the onset of DNA synthesis. The onset of DNA replication occurs at about 15 hours of germination and was shown to depend on proteins synthesized before 9 hours of germination with the use of blasticidin S, a specific inhibitor of protein synthesis. A 10-fold increase in the activity of DNA-dependent DNA polymerase was found in extracts derived from germinated embryos, as compared to the activity found in extracts from ungerminated embryos.