Fluorescent protein bodies in Cercis siliquastrum L. endosperm
Riggio Bevilacqua, L.; Gastaldo, P.; Profumo, P.; Martinucci, R.
Bollettino della Societa Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale 61(4): 491-497
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-8771 PMID: 4041254 Document Number: 252308
Autofluorescence of the C. siliquastrum L. endosperm is shown in handmade sections mounted in 0.1 M NH4OH. This fluorescence is not located in the cell walls, but clearly in the interior of the cells in bodies that resemble the protein bodies as evidentiated by picric acid staining. This result might be correlated with the previously demonstrated occurrence of bound ferulic acid in the Cricis endosperm. Besides being the cause of the inhibitory effect of extracts of incubated Cercis endosperm homogenates, it is suggested that ferulic acid presumably contained in the protein bodies may act as a chemical screen that, preventing oxygen from reaching the embryo, maintains it dormant.