Chlorophyllous Nature and Growth Characteristics of Teratoma and Habituated Tissue Cultures of Tobacco

The growth characteristics of three types of tissue cultures of tobacco have been investigated. They are (i) pigmented and differentiated teratoma tissue; (ii) pigmented and non-differentiated habituated tissue and (iii) non-pigmented and non-differentiated habituated tissue. All the tissues were grown on a 10 × White's medium without any exogenous supply of auxin. The comparative growth rate of the tissues was related to their nature of differentiation, viz., either organelle differentiation with chloroplast or organ differentiation with buds, leafy appendages, etc. Teratoma and pigmented habituated tissues had normal chlorophyll and carotenoid contents and showed more favorable growth in light than in the dark. The pigmented tissues showed a higher protein content than the non-pigmented tissues irrespective of whether they were of tumorous or normal origin. The pigmented tissues showed less dependence on sucrose availability in the medium than the non-pigmented tissues. Recovery after sucrose starvation was higher in the pigmented tissues than in the non-pigmented tissues. The results indicate that the growth rate of highly differentiated tissues is much slower than non-differentiated tissues and that the pigmented tissues photosynthesize and survive on reserve food products manufactured as a result of photosynthetic activity.