Autoradiographs of Pollen Tube Nuclei with Calcium-45

Autoradiography with Ca⁴⁵ has been used to obtain information about the relation between calcium and chromosomes. Labelled pollen from the Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum, was allowed to develop into pollen tubes between 5 and 6 cm. long in the styles of non-radioactive flowers. All of the nuclei, namely the tube nucleus and the two sperm nuclei, retain Ca⁴⁵ after this period of growth and development.

Since the two sperm nuclei have formed during this interval by the mitotic division of the generative nucleus and growth of the tube has occurred under the influence of the tube nucleus, it is inferred that the calcium was bound in a stable nuclear component, the chromosomes.