ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SOMATIC MEIOSIS IN EMBRYOGENIC CARROT CELL-CULTURES

During the establishment of an embryogenic cell line from a carrot hyp ocotyl explant, processes closely resembling meiotic divisions are see n. A microdensitometric analysis revealed that the amount of cellular DNA diminished in the majority of cells to the haploid level. However, the diploid level was re-established in a matter of a few days. The g enetic consequences of this segregation were studied by analyzing rest riction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) and randomly amplified po lymorphic DNAs (RAPD). The results showed that the great majority of e mbryos regenerated from segregants and that different segregants had d ifferent genetic constitutions.