HISTOCHEMICAL LOCALIZATION OF ENZYMES IN TAPINANTHUS BANGWENSIS: ACID PHOSPHATASE

Abstract

The distribution of acid phosphatase in the tissues of Tapinanthus bangwensis, a semiparasitic member of the Loranthaceae, and some of its hosts was studied. It has beer possible to work out convenient routine methods of pretreating tissues for histochemical enzyme localization, to modify, where necessary, conventional histochemical techniques for the localization of acid phosphatase, and to evaluate the azo-dye and metal-salt techniques at the optical level. Histochemical localization showed generally widespread activity and similarity in distribution for this enzyme in the parasite and host tissues. Although there is no direct correlation between these localizations and host-parasite relationships, the bearing that the localizations may have on such relationships is discussed in the light of the distributional evidence and the role usually ascribed to this enzyme.