A Staining Procedure for Pollen Grain Chromosomes of Maize

Abstract

Iron acetocarmine has long been used to visualize the chromosomes in maize pollen (Belling 1921, 1928; Burnham 1982) (Figure 73.1). The staining procedure is cumbersome and often provides unsatisfactory results. Maize pollen compounds the difficulty by presenting special problems for cytological studies. The thick exine and abundant starch grains prevent clear observation of the chromosomes and nuclei. The —addition of chloral hydrate or ferric hydrate to the iron acetocarmine stain can clear some of the starch (Satina and Blakeslee 1935; Belling 1921; Maheshwari 1937); however, satisfactory results can remain elusive.