THE NUCLEAR DNA CONTENT OF DEVELOPING BARLEY ALEURONE CELLS

The nuclear DNA content of developing barley aleurone cells was examined by Feulgen cytophotometry using the Cytophotometric Data Conversion (CYDAC) system. At no time in their development did aleurone cells exhibit a single peak corresponding to the triploid (3N) amount of DNA. Although considerable heterogeneity was observed at every stage of development, the mean nuclear DNA content approximately doubled from the earliest to the most mature stage.