Journal article
Block-Surface Staining for Differentiation of Starch and Cell Walls in Wheat Endosperm
Biotechnic & histochemistry, Vol.67(2), pp.88-97
1992
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/112679
PMID: 1376154
Abstract
A staining technique for differentiating starch granules and cell walls was developed for computer-assisted studies of starch granule distribution in cells of wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] caryopses. Blocks of embedded caryopses were sectioned, exposing the endosperm tissue, and stained with iodine potassium iodide (IKI) and Calcofluor White. Excessive tissue hydration during staining was avoided by using stains prepared in 80% ethanol and using short staining times. The IKI quenched background fluorescence which facilitated the use of higher concentrations of Calcofluor White. Cell wall definition was improved with the IKI-Calcofluor staining combination compared to Calcofluor alone. The high contrast between darkly stained starch granules and fluorescent cell walls permitted computer assisted analysis of data from selected hard and soft wheat varieties. The ratio of starch granule area to cell area was similar for both wheat classes. The starch granule sizes ranged from 2.1 μm3 to 22,000 μm3 with approximately 90% of the granules measuring less than 752 μm3 (ca. 11 μm in diameter). Hard wheat samples had a greater number of small starch granules and a lower mean starch granule area compared to the soft wheat varieties tested. The starch size distribution curve was bimodal for both the hard and soft wheat varieties. Three-dimensional starch size distribution was measured for four cells near the central cheek region of a single caryopsis. The percentage of small granules was higher at the ends than at the mid-section of the cells.
Metrics
13 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Block-Surface Staining for Differentiation of Starch and Cell Walls in Wheat Endosperm
- Creators
- Gregory M Glenn - 1Western Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, California, 94710Marvin J Pitts - 2Department of Agricultural Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 99164-6120Ke Liao - 2Department of Agricultural Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 99164-6120Delilah W Irving - 1Western Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, California, 94710
- Publication Details
- Biotechnic & histochemistry, Vol.67(2), pp.88-97
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
- Publisher
- Informa UK Ltd
- Identifiers
- 99900547856201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article