Cell proliferation in Allium cepa L. meristems under 8-hydroxyquinoline, a chelating agent that affects DNA and RNA polymerases.

8-Hydroxyquinoline (HQ) chelates Mg2+ and Mn2+ and, secondarily, affects the activities of DNA and RNA polymerases. The in vivo effect of HQ has been estimated in Allium cepa L. meristems growing under new growth kinetics in the presence of this agent. HQ (at both 5 X 10(-5) M and 10(-4) M) depressed incorporation of [3H]uridine much more effectively than that of [3H]-thymidine. Cycle kinetics in meristems behaved as if they were independent of the rates of synthesis or accumulation of RNA since, under HQ, cycle time was only moderately modified and the new cycle kinetics achieved could be explained by the new rates of [3H]thymidine incorporation. Lengthened S periods were partially compensated for by shortened G2 phases, suggesting that, in these cells, both the growth cycle and its coupling with the DNA-division cycle were not disturbed by a decreased amount of RNA. Finally, the nucleolar cycle during mitosis, but not the interphase nucleolus, was modified under the new rates of RNA synthesis.