RELATIONS BETWEEN METABOLISM AND MORPHOGENESIS DURING REGENERATION IN TUBIFEX TUBIFEX. II

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri

1. Continuous exposure of regenerating Tubifex tubifex, Mull. to cyanide has been found to affect "rate of localization" without affecting the ultimate extent or perfection of localization or of other morphogenetic processes.

2. Continuous exposure to iodoacetate has been found to increase "rate of later differentiation" without having other effects on regeneration.

3. Low oxygen tension was found to retard regenerative processes generally. In complete absence of oxygen, blastema formation took place but all subsequent processes were effectively blocked.

4. High oxygen tension blocked morphogenesis and also was lethal in from four to eight days. Both the inhibition and the lethal effects were partially relieved by concurrent treatment with cyanide.

5. It is concluded that the availability of oxygen limits the progress of later processes in morphogenesis without playing any necessary part in the initiation of regeneration in Tubifex.

6. It is indicated that metabolic processes supporting "localization," "early differentiation," and "later differentiation" are at least partially distinct from each other and from the metabolic processes essential to maintenance; that energy released in the promotion of particular morphogenetic processes must be released through particular enzyme systems; and that such specific release of energy is essential to the progress of morphogenesis.