Effects of NaCl Induced Stress on the Mitotic Cell Cycle and Growth Fraction in the Root Meristems of Root Tip Cells in Two Lines of Barley

Abstract

The seeds of Hordeum sativum lines B-88079 and B-jou87 were grown in aerated 0.1 Rorison nutrient solution for 72 hours. Then the kinetics of cell cycle in the root meristem were determined by a pulse labelling experiment with low specific activity tritiated thymidine following a 70 hours exposures to three concentrations of NaCI (0, 50 and 100 mM NaCI). Hordeum sativum lines B-jou87 had a longer cell cycle duration than that of line B-88079. The mitotic cell cycle in line B-88079 remained unaffected at 50 and 100 mM NaCI concentrations but that of B-jou87 was decreased. The growth fraction (refers to percentage of meristematic cells which are actively cycling as opposed to these that are not cycling in the meristem) was not determined due to non labelling of any cells in continuos labelling experiment.