EARLY PHASES IN IN-VITRO CULTURE OF TOMATO COTYLEDONS - STARCH ACCUMULATION AND PROTEIN PATTERN IN RELATION TO THE HORMONAL TREATMENT

Tomato cotyledon explants, cultured in vitro in the presence of sucros e, were subjected to different hormonal treatments to establish whethe r the induction of different organogenic programmes could be correlate d with differences in starch accumulation and protein electrophoretic pattern. The cytohistological changes in explants over the first 15 da ys of culture were studied by light and electron microscopy. It was fo und that starch accumulation occurs under air conditions, though varyi ng in duration and amount. Over the first 2 days of culture the protei n electrophoretic pattern changes in a similar way under all condition s, while after 7 days changes take place which are probably related to the different developmental programmes induced by the treatments.