EN
The paper reports a comparative study of storage protein synthesis and enzyme activity during zygotic and somatic embryogenesis of silver fir. The SDS-PAGE profiles of storage proteins in zygotic and somatic embryos were similar but not identical. Six storage protein fractions were detected in zygotic embryos, as compared with eleven fractions in somatic embryos. The principal storage protein of zygotic embryos was represented by the 43 kDa fraction, and in somatic embryos by the 53 kDa fraction. Peroxidase activity was lower in the precotyledonary and cotyledonary stages of somatic embryos than in the corresponding developmental stages of zygotic embryos. However, following desiccation, the mature somatic embryos possessed three times higher peroxidase activity than the mature zygotic embryos. The reverse was true of the specific activity of esterase, which was higher in zygotic embryos than in somatic embryos in all stages of development.