Nucleic acids in the last stages of maturation of two varieties

Abstract

Using the MAK column chromatography method the process of wheat grain maturation was found to be closely correlated with nucleic acid metabolism. The amount of nucleic acids in the embryos increased until the end of the maturation of the grain. This increase was the result of an intensive synthesis mainly of rRNA fractions and to some extent also of sRNA. The quantitative proportion of various fractions of nucleic acids also changed in the last stages of grain maturation. In the period of wax maturity in wheat embryos a higher content of 4S and 5S RNA was found which partly explains a higher viability of these seeds.