Nucleic acids and survival of excised anthers in vitro.

Excised anthers of Allium cepa and Rhoeo discolor have been successfully cultured in modified White's medium supplemented with various concentrations of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid. Ribonucleic acid proved to be much more useful than deoxyribonucleic acid and reduced the time required for the completion of meiosis from 48 hours to 24 hours. The role of nucleic acids in the control of nuclear divisions has been indicated.