Glutaraldehyde activation of nuclear acid phosphatase in cultured plant cells.

Cultured tobacco cells exhibited a nuclear reaction in the cytochemical test for acid phosphatase after exposure to 2 percent glutaraldehyde. A slight preference for adenosine monophosphate over beta glycerophosphate as substrate was noted, but the enzymatic activity was not typically 5' nucleotidase. Other aldehydes tested did not elicit the same enzyme response. Nucleolar localization was distinct from that in the rest of the nucleus. Assay for spectrophotometric measurements of enzymatic activity in vitro was developed as a modification of the Burstone procedure with naphthol AS-B1 phosphate and diazo blue B.