Localization of beta-glycerophosphatase and Mg++-activated adenosine triphosphatase in a moss haustorium,and the relation of these enzymes to the cell wall labyrinth

Summary Acid phosphatase and ATPase were localized in the bryophyte haustorium and in the surrounding paternal tissue of the gametophyte. Only cells with wall labyrinths are the sites of intense enzyme activity.The reaction products of both enzymes were found to occur in cell organelles, the plasma membrane and particularly in wall inclusions that are supposedly proteinaceous in nature.The intensity of the reaction is proportional to the state of differentiation of the labyrinth. The highest enzyme activity was encountered in the epidermal cells which are furnished with the most elaborate wall labyrinths. Somewhat lower was the activity in the other labyrinth cells with filiform ingrowths.These findings stress the role of the epidermis as an absorptive epithelium, and also show clearly that the enzyme activity associated with the plasma surface is in no reciprocal ratio to the degree of amplification of the surface area.