The Quiescent Centre and Rates of Mitosis in the Root Meristem of Allium sativum

The root apices of Allium sativum have been examined by continuous-and pulse-labelling with tritiated thymidine and by colchicinetreatment to measure the time parameters of the mitotic cyclein various parts of the meristem. There is a quiescent centre of 30–50 cells whose averagerate of mitosis is low because the G₁ period is extended toabout 140 h compared with about 4 h in the othe regions of themeristem. The stele just above the quiescent centre and at 200microns above it and the cap initials just below the quiescentcentre are very similar in their mitotic cycles, the total lengthsof which are about 30 h of which nearly half is taken up byDNA synthesis. Allium thus differs from Zea in having root capinitials whose mitotic cycle is not telescoped by the eliminationof the G₁ phase. These facts are discussed in relation to theradiosensitivity of the meristem.