Subject: Zygote germination
Zygotes that are plated at low density onto dry 4% agar do not stick to
one another, and these, after the standard light/dark exposures, are what
most of us, I believe, work with when we subsequently put them into light
and await meiosis. It has been my experience that if instead the zygotes
are maintained in liquid and allowed to stick to one another in the
sheets called pellicle, that those zygotes do NOT germinate. This
impression is experiential and not rigorous, but we are now needing a
more rigorous answer. Has any of you tried to get "pelliclized" zygotes
to germinate and if so, have you succeeded or failed? Do you know of any
publications on this?
Ursula Goodenough
