Cell Division and Differentiation in Cambial Explants of Carrot-root Tissue

Abstract

Cambial explants of carrot-root were grown in axenic culture without added hormones. The cambial initials neither retained their identity nor continued to generate xylem and phloem elements. Cell division and differentiation proceeded in newly initiated peripheral cambia. Indol-3-yl acetic acid, 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid and kinetin, when added to the medium, did not retain the original cambial function but induced essentially similar differentiation. We conclude that active cell division was not an innate attribute of cambial initial cells and the mobile material they contained activated cell division in other somatic cells.