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The Duration of Chromosomal DNA Synthesis, of the Mitotic Cycle, and of Meiosis of Higher Plants

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Handbook of Genetics

Abstract

A relationship between DNA content per cell and the duration of the mitotic cycle in plants was first shown by Van’t Hof and Sparrow (1963) in 1963. Since that time, work on other species has provided additional confirmatory observations, and the information in the tables which follow constitutes an introduction to the literature on the topic. The compilation is limited to the mitotic cycle of cells of higher plants as measured in vivo by the Quastler-Sherman method (Quastler and Sherman, 1959) which utilizes 3H-thymidine and autoradiography. The 2C-DNA content was calculated according to Van’t Hof (1965) when necessary and separate references are given for cases where the durations and DNA content were reported independently. Table 1 lists the 2C-DNA content, the duration of the mitotic cycle (CT), and its parts: the presynthetic (G1), DNA synthetic (S), postsynthetic (G2), and mitotic (M) periods. Data on diploid, tetraploid, and hyperploid species for which no quantitative DNA values are available are also given. The durations of G1, S, G2, M, and CT at different temperatures are listed in Table 2, and those of cells in different histological loci are shown in Table 3. Unless noted otherwise, the data refer to cells of root apices.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA

    Jack Van’t Hof

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  1. Jack Van’t Hof
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biologial Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Robert C. King (Professor of Genetics) (Professor of Genetics)

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© 1974 Plenum Press, New York

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Van’t Hof, J. (1974). The Duration of Chromosomal DNA Synthesis, of the Mitotic Cycle, and of Meiosis of Higher Plants. In: King, R.C. (eds) Handbook of Genetics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2994-7_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2994-7_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-2996-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-2994-7

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