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Vicia faba root slices examined after freeze‐fracture and thaw‐fixation
Author(s) -
Haggis G. H.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1981.tb01221.x
Subject(s) - organelle , vicia faba , cytoplasm , lysis , fixative , biology , chloroplast , interphase , ultrastructure , nucleus , biophysics , chromatin , microbiology and biotechnology , nucleolus , botany , dna , biochemistry , gene
SUMMARY Vicia faba root slices have been frozen, fractured and thawed into fixative, to give a deep view into cell cytoplasm and into cell organelles. Fracture through interphase nuclei shows a tangle of 20–25 nm chromatin as well as finer strands. The nucleoli appear very compact. The proplastids in these preparations are packed with starch grains. In fracture through smaller organelles, probably mitochondria, 10–12 nm strands are seen which may correspond to organelle DNA in supercoiled form. Strands of this dimension, as well as finer strands, are also seen in preparations of isolated leaf chloroplasts after freeze‐thaw lysis.