A histochemical study of protein-bound SH and SS in chromosomes of hyacinth and fava bean root tips.

Root tips were fixed in ethanol-acetic acid and in neutral formalin containing a mercaptide-forming agent to protect thiols from autoxidation. Serial paraffin sections 2 micrometers thick were labelled for thiols, disulfides and both together with the azogenic maleimide 'APM'. Nuclei were stained somewhat lighter for thiols, and nucleoli much darker, than was the surrounding cytoplasm; disulfide staining was paler and more evenly distributed. However, regardless of the fixative employed, mitotic chromosomes (precisely localized by fluorescent Feulgen counterstaining) contained negligible amounts of either thiols or disulfides. Although published biochemical studies also have indicated low concentrations of cyst(e)inyl residues in chromosomal proteins, the present findings contradict most previous histochemical reports.