Urban atmospheres contain complex mixtures of air pollutants including mutagenic and carcinogenic substances such as benzene, diesel soot, heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the frame of a European network for the assessment of air quality by the use of bioindicator plants, the Tradescantia micronucleus (Trad-MCN) test was applied to examine the genotoxicity of urban air poll...

ETAILED analyses of populations containing natural hybrids have D been reported recently. ANDERSON (1936) has suggested a method for expressing quantitatively the extent of hybridity of a population and for comparing various populations, and this method has been applied to various genera such as Tradescantia (ANDERSON 1936) , Solidago (GOODWIN 1937), and Iris (RILEY 1938, 1939) The present pape...

Microtubule (MT) turnover within the four principal MT arrays, the cortical array, the preprophase band, the mitotic spindle and the phragmoplast, has been measured in living stamen hair cells of Tradescantia that have been injected with fluorescent neurotubulin. Using the combined techniques of confocal laser scanning microscopy and fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching (FRAP), we r...

We present a new record to the Brazilian territory (i.e. Tradescantia boliviana), the rediscovery of a species exclusively known from the cultivated type collection (i.e. T. valida), the description of a new taxon (i.e. T. chrysophylla), synonyms for T. crassula and T. boliviana, correct the typification of T. crassula, and designation of a lectotype for T. ambigua and T. ambigua var. pilosula....

It has been proposed that the genera Zebrina and Setcreasea of the family Commelinaceae should be united and reunited, respectively, with the genus Tradescantia, mainly based on morphological studies. In the present study, karyotypes and Giemsa C-banding patterns in the root-tip cells of three Zebrina and two Setcreasea clones were analyzed, and were compared with those of a triploid Tradescant...

Carbonic anhydrase (EC.4.2.1.1) was purified from leaves of the dicotyledon Pisum sativum L. (56-fold) and from leaves of the monocotyledon Tradescantia albiflora Kunth. (24-fold). The molecular weight of the Pisum enzyme was estimated to be 188,000 +/- 8,000 with subunit sizes of 28,000 +/- 3,000 and 56,600 +/- 3,500. It contained 1 mole zinc per 32,500 +/- 2,000 g protein. The molecular weigh...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of low internal exposure to 137Cs on L. sativum meristem cells and Tradescantia stamen hair cells. It also compared the impact of 137Cs internal and external irradiation of similar level on the plant seed germination and root growth. Compared to control, the tested internal (0.0007 mGy to 0.7 mGy) and external (0.04 mGy to 5.5 mGy) 137Cs ionising...

We present a simple Poisson process model for the growth of Tradescantia fluminensis, an invasive plant species that inhibits the regeneration of native forest remnants in New Zealand. The model was parameterised with data derived from field experiments in New Zealand and then verified with independent data. The model gave good predictions which showed that its underlying assumptions are sound....