rRNA distribution during microspore development in anthers of Beta vulgaris L. quantitative in situ hybridization analysis.

We related changes in the ultrastructural organization of the nucleoli with the results of quantitative in situ hybridizations to characterize rRNA metabolism during the development of microspore mother cells in the sugar beet anther (Beta vulgaris L.). In the course of meiotic prophase and early postmeiotic interphase the morphological characteristics of the nucleoli are typical of low or no transcriptional activity and a low rate of rRNA processing. However, we found evidence of an apparent increase in the relative numbers of 18 S rRNA transcripts in some stages of microsporogenesis. This was found in both the nucleoli and cytoplasm of pachytene meiocytes, and in later stages there was a spectacular accumulation of rRNA transcripts in nucleoli of the tetrad cells. Quantitative data are analyzed in the light of morphometric findings in the cell and their compartments to elucidate the degree to which changes in cell size are related to changes in labeling density and distribution. The results are discussed in terms of rRNA synthesis, transport and degradation as processes involved in the regulation of rRNA within microsporocytes and microspores.