Influence of Carbohydrates on Quantitative Aspects of Growth and Embryo Formation in Wild Carrot Suspension Cultures

Abstract

Wild carrot (Daucus carota L.) cell suspensions were grown on a mineral salt medium supplemented with 10 mM myoinositol in the presence and absence of 2.25 .mu.M 2,4-D, and a variety of C sources. The data obtained on growth and embryo number in the absence of 2,4-D show that wild carrot suspensions were able to utilize sucrose, glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose, maltose, raffinose, or stachyose as a C source. A highly significant correlation between dry weight and embryo number was obtained regardless of the carbohydrate source suggesting the involvement of a common intermediate in the metabolism of the various sugars. In the presence of 2.25 .mu.M 2,4-D, embryo formation was suppressed. Time course of dry weights obtained in the presence and absence of 2,4-D show that 2,4-D increased the growth rate of the tissue when glucose, fructose, mannose, or stachyose was used as the C source. The growth rates on other sugars remained unchanged under these conditions.