Studies on developmental biology of embryogenesis in higher plants--effect of actinomycin D and cycloheximide on the formation of peroxidase during rice and embryogenesis and germination.

Peroxidase activity of the pregerminated rice embryos collected at various stages of development has been investigated and compared with that of the embryos under the treatment of actinomycin D. Peroxidase activity gradually increases as embryo differentiation goes on, but remains more or less stable at the stage when maximum differentiation occurs. According to the investigation, the authors postulate that the peroxidase biosynthesis during rice germination is mediated by a long-lived mRNA, which is transcribed in the immature embryo at the stage of eight to nine days after anthesis. In this paper, the role of long-lived mRNA is also discussed.