The Protein Body in Dedifferentiating Cels of Tobacco Leaf Explants

Light and electron microscopic observations show that a kind of spherical electron-dense body appears in the dediffercntiating mesophyll cells and their subdivided cells in tobacco leaf explants cultured for more than two days. The larger electron-dense bodies (1.0–1.5μm in diameter) present in vacuoles while the smaller ones (0.1–0.8 m in diameter) in cytoplasm. This implies that the bodies first can be formed in cytoplasm and then secreted into vacuoles. Since the bodies can be fixed with glutaradehyde and 3H- leucine can incorporated into them, they may be recognized as protein bodies. The protein bodies usually closly combined with newly formed cytoplasmic masses so we suggest that they probably play some role in cytoplasmic growth of dedifferentiafing ceils.