STORED MESSENGER-RNA AND STRATIFICATION IN EASTERN WHITE-PINE (PINUS-STROBUS L)

Moist, cold stratification, necessary for prompt germination of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) seeds, had little if any quantitative or qualitative effect on stored messenger RNA (mRNA). Equal amounts of mRNA and similar arrays of in vitro translation products were obtained from dry seed stored for 4 years, and from the same lot of seed stratified for 60 days at 5-degrees-C. Protein synthesis is a 1.5 hour incubation period, however, was 3 times greater in stratified seed than in unstratified seed. Stratification, therefore, does not appear to affect transcription, but influences the translational activity of stored mRNA in the earliest stages of germination.