In vitro cultures of maize (Zea mays L.) endosperm derived from the dent inbred A636 have been maintained in culture for over three years. Tissue growing in liquid media containing 2% sucrose contained little starch, but the addition of 6 g of sucrose nine days after subculture stimulated considerable starch accumulation. Glucose and/or fructose supported growth and starch accumulation, but galactose did not. The addition of extra medium components accompanying sucrose supplementation had no beneficial effect on starch accumulation, but a second 6‐g sucrose supplementation 12 days after the first further stimulated starch deposition. The starch accumulation appeared to be directly related to the amount of metabolizable carbohydrates in the medium. Since a simple modification of the medium stimulates starch deposition, maize endosperm cultures should be a useful model system for studying in vivo starch biosynthesis.
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Chu et al. (1975) studied this question.