Fig. 4

Applications of paraffin sections of cereal kernels. a The longitudinal section of maize developing kernels at 15 days after pollination (cited from Chen et al. [14]). The section is stained with fuchsin basic and toluidine blue. Scale bar = 0.5 mm. b The longitudinal section of maize developing kernels at 14 days after pollination (cited from Leiva-Neto et al. [39]). The section is stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, showing the size of nuclei in different regions of kernel. Scale bar = 0.5 mm. c Detection of mRNA of 27-kD γ-zein in paraffin longitudinal section of maize developing kernel at 25 days after pollination (cited from Woo et al. [18]). Scale bar = 1 mm. d Immunohistochemical localization of δ-zein in paraffin section of maize developing kernel at 20 days after pollination (cited from Kim and Krishnan [17]). The brown color indicates the specific labeling of δ-zein on the protein bodies in subaleurone and starchy endosperm cells. Scale bar = 0.1 mm. e An improved method for preparing paraffin section of cereal late developing and mature kernels (cited from Zhang et al. [40]). (1) paraffin section prepared with conventional method, (2) paraffin section prepared with the improved method, (3) section of developing kernel at 35 days after pollination stained with iodine solution, showing the starch accumulation in kernel, (4) in situ localization of bam1 transcript in the developing kernel at 35 days after pollination. f An improved adhesive tape method for preparing paraffin section of cereal mature kernels (cited from Ogawa et al. [41]). (1–5) the preparing processes of section, (6) reconstructed whole images of complete sections of rice mature kernel, showing cell wall arrangement and cell distribution in kernel, (7) the deparaffinized section of rice kernel at the center of the dorsal side of the kernel, showing autofluorescence. c, seed coat layer; al, aleurone layer; sl, subaleurone layer, e, starchy endosperm. Scale bar = 0.4 mm (F6) and 0.1 mm (F7)