RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GROWTH RATES AND NUCLEIC ACID CONTENTS IN THE ROOTS OF INBRED LINES OF CORN

Woodstock , Lowell W., and Folke Skooc . (U. Wisconsin, Madison.) Relationships between growth rates and nucleic acid contents in the roots of inbred lines of corn. Amer. Jour. Bot. 47(9) : 713–716. Illus. 1960.—A study has been made of the rates of elongation and nucleic acid contents of the roots of inbred lines of Zea mays, var. W-158, A-374B, W-58, W-28, 8A, and W-148. A direct proportionality was found between the ribosenucleic acid contents (μg./root) of the apical 3 or 6 mm. of the roots (roughly equivalent to their growing tips) and their rates of elongation. This strict, quantitative relationship to growth rate appears to be specific for RNA; it was not found for DNA, and it was independent of the size of the root. A detailed study of one line (W-58) has shown, furthermore, that the ribosenucleic acid content in the root tip decreases with time in proportion to the decrease in the growth rate of the root.