Microspectrophotometric determination of the relative contents of nucleic acids in Pinus silvestris pollen.

The volumes of the vegetative and the generative nucleus of Pinus silvestris L. pollen increased about 59% and 15%, respectively, during 72 h of germination and tube growth. In spite of this, the contents of nucleic acids measured by fluorescence and UV absorbance did not change during the investigation. The volume changes may therefore be due to altered osmotic conditions.