Destruction of the symplast as a stimulus for nucleolar enlargement in lemon fruit tissue

Summary

Nucleolar enlargement occurs in excised lemon fruit juice vesicles isolated from exogenous sources of moisture as well as moisture and air. The destruction of plasmodesmatal continuity (symplast) between the juice vesicles and the fruit wall cells during excision of the vesicles is the one known invariable physical and structural factor associated with the explants manifesting endogenous nucleolar enlargement under the different environmental conditions. The findings presented here point to the destruction of the symplast as providing the primary stimulus for nucleolar enlargement in lemon fruit juice vesicles under completely endogenous conditions.