Histology of Structures from a Soybean ( Glycine Max) Somatic Embryogenesis Protocol

Globular and heart-shaped soybean (Glycine max) embryoids were obtained from the Phillips and Collins somatic embryogenesis procedure (Plant Cell Tissue Organ Culture 1:123–129). These structures, in addition to comparable stage zygotic embryos, were fixed, sectioned, and then stained with safranin-fast green. Although the somatic structures appear similar to zygotic embryos in gross morphology, the somatic structures are generally 2 to 5 times larger than comparable stage zygotic embryos. When thin sections of the somatic structures and the zygotic embryos were compared, the somatic structures lacked both a true epidermis and an internal organization capable of producing a shoot meristem.