DNA PROCESSING DURING TEPAL SENESCENCE OF SANDERSONIA AURANTIACA

We are studying the senescence of an ethylene-insensitive flower, Sandersonia aurantiaca, to determine which factor/s initiate the cascade of events that result in tissue death. Some of the hallmarks of apoptotic cell death, a form of programmed cell death found in animal cells, have recently been detected during cell death in plants. These include processing of DNA into ladders and the formation of apoptotic bodies. We have used TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated X-dUTP nick end labeling) to measure DNA degradation during senescence in harvested sandersonia flowers. The intensity of fluorescence of nuclei staining with TUNEL increases as tepals fade and wilt.

VII International Symposium on Postharvest Physiology of Ornamental Plants

J.R. Eason, T.T. Bucknell

DNA processing, TUNEL

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2001.543.17