The protoplasmic membrane of living cells has the ability to selectively absorb substances, while the protoplasmic membrane of dead cells loses this ability, so the red ink dye can enter the dead cells and stain them. Living cells cannot absorb red ink so they do not stain.

Operation method

Seed activity assay by red ink staining

Principle

The protoplasmic membrane of living cells has the ability to selectively absorb substances, while the protoplasmic membrane of dead cells loses this ability, so the red ink dye can enter the dead cells and stain them. Living cells cannot absorb red ink so they do not stain. This principle only applies to embryonic cells, and endosperm cells are all stained red by red ink, so is it judged that endosperm cells are dead cells? Therefore, the staining mechanism is not only related to the permeability of the plasma membrane, but also to the structure and physical properties of the cells (embryo cells and endosperm cells) themselves, which is a question that needs to be further investigated.

Materials and Instruments

Seeds
Petri dishes, blades, tweezers, red ink.

Move

1. Operation: Take half of the remaining seeds of the TTC method, place them in a petri dish, add 5% red ink to stain them for 15 minutes, pour away the red ink, then rinse them 3-4 times with tap water and observe the coloring. Where the seed embryo is not colored or the coloring is very light for live seeds, where the seed embryo and endosperm are colored to the same degree for dead seeds.

At the same time, dead seeds were boiled in boiling water as a control treatment.

2. Count the number of seeds with colored or uncolored embryos and calculate the percentage of viable seeds.

For more product details, please visit Aladdin Scientific website.

https://www.aladdinsci.com/