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1.

Background and Aims

‘Loxoscaphoid’ Asplenium species are morphologically a remarkably distinct group of Aspleniaceae. Except for two preliminary chromosome counts of Asplenium theciferum, the cytology of this group of species has, however, been largely unstudied.

Methods

Chromosome counts were obtained by acetocarmine squash preparations of one mitotic cell and several meiotic cells. Relative DNA content of gametophytic and sporophytic cells was determined by flow cytometry. The phylogenetic placement of A. loxoscaphoides, A. rutifolium s.l. and A. theciferum s.l. was investigated through an analysis of rbcL sequences.

Key Results

The dysploid base number is reported to be x = 35 in Asplenium centrafricanum, A. loxoscaphoides, A. sertularioides and A. theciferum. Analysis of rbcL sequences confirms that ‘loxoscaphoids’ nest robustly within Asplenium. Several high ploidy levels exceeding the tetraploid level were found in A. theciferum s.l. and A. rutifolium s.l. All taxa proved to be sexual.

Conclusions

Four base numbers are known at present for Aspleniaceae: x = 39, 38, 36 and 35. The dysploid base number x = 35 found in the ‘loxoscaphoid’ Asplenium spp. sheds a novel light on the cytoevolution of the whole family. We postulate a recurrent descending dysploid evolution within Aspleniaceae, leading to speciation at the (sub)generic and species/group level.  相似文献   

2.

Background and Aims

The pattern of callose deposition was followed in developing stomata of the fern Asplenium nidus to investigate the role of this polysaccharide in guard cell (GC) wall differentiation and stomatal pore formation.

Methods

Callose was localized by aniline blue staining and immunolabelling using an antibody against (1 → 3)-β-d-glucan. The study was carried out in stomata of untreated material as well as of material treated with: (1) 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DDG) or tunicamycin, which inhibit callose synthesis; (2) coumarin or 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (dichlobenil), which block cellulose synthesis; (3) cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), which disturbs cytoplasmic Ca2+ homeostasis; and (d) cytochalasin B or oryzalin, which disintegrate actin filaments and microtubules, respectively.

Results

In post-cytokinetic stomata significant amounts of callose persisted in the nascent ventral wall. Callose then began degrading from the mid-region of the ventral wall towards its periphery, a process which kept pace with the formation of an ‘internal stomatal pore’ by local separation of the partner plasmalemmata. In differentiating GCs, callose was consistently localized in the developing cell-wall thickenings. In 2-DDG-, tunicamycin- and CPA-affected stomata, callose deposition and internal stomatal pore formation were inhibited. The affected ventral walls and GC wall thickenings contained membranous elements. Stomata recovering from the above treatments formed a stomatal pore by a mechanism different from that in untreated stomata. After coumarin or dichlobenil treatment, callose was retained in the nascent ventral wall for longer than in control stomata, while internal stomatal pore formation was blocked. Actin filament disintegration inhibited internal stomatal pore formation, without any effect on callose deposition.

Conclusions

In A. nidus stomata the time and pattern of callose deposition and degradation play an essential role in internal stomatal pore formation, and callose participates in deposition of the local GC wall thickenings.  相似文献   

3.

Background and Aims

Transfer cells are plant cells specialized in apoplast/symplast transport and characterized by a distinctive wall labyrinth apparatus. The molecular architecture and biochemistry of the labyrinth apparatus are poorly known. The leaf lamina in the aquatic angiosperm Elodea canadensis consists of only two cell layers, with the abaxial cells developing as transfer cells. The present study investigated biochemical properties of wall ingrowths and associated plasmalemma in these cells.

Methods

Leaves of Elodea were examined by light and electron microscopy and ATPase activity was localized cytochemically. Immunogold electron microscopy was employed to localize carbohydrate epitopes associated with major cell wall polysaccharides and glycoproteins.

Key Results

The plasmalemma associated with the wall labyrinth is strongly enriched in light-dependent ATPase activity. The wall ingrowths and an underlying wall layer share an LM11 epitope probably associated with glucuronoarabinoxylan and a CCRC-M7 epitope typically associated with rhamnogalacturonan I. No labelling was observed with LM10, an antibody that recognizes low-substituted and unsubstituted xylan, a polysaccharide consistently associated with secondary cell walls. The JIM5 and JIM7 epitopes, associated with homogalacturonan with different degrees of methylation, appear to be absent in the wall labyrinth but present in the rest of cell walls.

Conclusions

The wall labyrinth apparatus of leaf transfer cells in Elodea is a specialized structure with distinctive biochemical properties. The high level of light-dependent ATPase activity in the plasmalemma lining the wall labyrinth is consistent with a formerly suggested role of leaf transfer cells in enhancing inorganic carbon inflow. The wall labyrinth is a part of the primary cell wall. The discovery that the wall ingrowths in Elodea have an antibody-binding pattern divergent, in part, from that of the rest of cell wall suggests that their carbohydrate composition is modulated in relation to transfer cell functioning.  相似文献   

4.

Background and Aims

The morphogenesis of lobed mesophyll cells (MCs) is highly controlled and coupled with intercellular space formation. Cortical microtubule rings define the number and the position of MC isthmi. This work investigated early events of MC morphogenesis, especially the mechanism defining the position of contacts between MCs. The distributions of plasmodesmata, the hemicelluloses callose and (1 → 3,1 → 4)-β-d-glucans (MLGs) and the pectin epitopes recognized by the 2F4, JIM5, JIM7 and LM6 antibodies were studied in the cell walls of Zea mays MCs.

Methods

Matrix cell wall polysaccharides were immunolocalized in hand-made sections and in sections of material embedded in LR White resin. Callose was also localized using aniline blue in hand-made sections. Plasmodesmata distribution was examined by transmission electron microscopy.

Results

Before reorganization of the dispersed cortical microtubules into microtubule rings, particular bands of the longitudinal MC walls, where the MC contacts will form, locally differentiate by selective (1) deposition of callose and the pectin epitopes recognized by the 2F4, LM6, JIM5 and JIM7 antibodies, (2) degradation of MLGs and (3) formation of secondary plasmodesmata clusterings. This cell wall matrix differentiation persists in cell contacts of mature MCs. Simultaneously, the wall bands between those of future cell contacts differentiate with (1) deposition of local cell wall thickenings including cellulose microfibrils, (2) preferential presence of MLGs, (3) absence of callose and (4) transient presence of the pectins identified by the JIM5 and JIM7 antibodies. The wall areas between cell contacts expand determinately to form the cell isthmi and the cell lobes.

Conclusions

The morphogenesis of lobed MCs is characterized by the early patterned differentiation of two distinct cell wall subdomains, defining the sites of the future MC contacts and of the future MC isthmi respectively. This patterned cell wall differentiation precedes cortical microtubule reorganization and may define microtubule ring disposition.  相似文献   

5.

Background and Aims

Plant cell enlargement is unambiguously coupled to changes in cell wall architecture, and as such various studies have examined the modification of the proportions and structures of glucuronoarabinoxylan and mixed-linkage glucan in the course of cell elongation in grasses. However, there is still no clear understanding of the mutual arrangement of these matrix polymers with cellulose microfibrils and of the modification of this architecture during cell growth. This study aimed to determine the correspondence between the fine structure of grass cell walls and the course of the elongation process in roots of maize (Zea mays).

Methods

Enzymatic hydrolysis followed by biochemical analysis of derivatives was coupled with immunohistochemical detection of cell wall epitopes at different stages of cell development in a series of maize root zones.

Key Results

Two xylan-directed antibodies (LM11 and ABX) have distinct patterns of primary cell wall labelling in cross-sections of growing maize roots. The LM11 epitopes were masked by mixed-linkage glucan and were revealed only after lichenase treatment. They could be removed from the section by xylanase treatment. Accessibility of ABX epitopes was not affected by the lichenase treatment. Xylanase treatment released only part of the cell wall glucuronoarabinoxylan and produced two types of products: high-substituted (released in polymeric form) and low-substituted (released as low-molecular-mass fragments). The amount of the latter was highly correlated with the amount of mixed-linkage glucan.

Conclusions

Three domains of glucuronoarabinoxylan were determined: one separating cellulose microfibrils, one interacting with them and a middle domain between the two, which links them. The middle domain is masked by the mixed-linkage glucan. A model is proposed in which the mixed-linkage glucan serves as a gel-like filler of the space between the separating domain of the glucuronoarabinoxylan and the cellulose microfibrils. Space for glucan is provided along the middle domain, the proportion of which increases during cell elongation.  相似文献   

6.

Background and Aims

In flowering plants, microsporogenesis is accompanied by various types of cytoplasmic partitioning (cytokinesis). Patterns of male cytokinesis are suspected to play a role in the diversity of aperture patterns found in pollen grains of angiosperms. The relationships between intersporal wall formation, tetrad shape and pollen aperture pattern ontogeny are studied.

Methods

A comparative analysis of meiosis and aperture distribution was performed within tetrads in two triporate eudicot species with contrasting aperture arrangements within their tetrads [Epilobium roseum (Onagraceae) and Paranomus reflexus (Proteaceae)].

Key Results and Conclusions

Intersporal wall formation is a two-step process in both species. Cytokinesis is first achieved by the formation of naked centripetal cell plates. These naked cell plates are then covered by additional thick, localized callose deposits that differ in location between the two species. Apertures are finally formed in areas in which additional callose is deposited on the cell plates. The recorded variation in tetrad shape is correlated with variations in aperture pattern, demonstrating the role of cell partitioning in aperture pattern ontogeny.  相似文献   

7.

Background and Aims

Parasitic plants obtain nutrients from their hosts through organs called haustoria. The hyaline body is a specialized parenchymatous tissue occupying the central parts of haustoria in many Orobanchaceae species. The structure and functions of hyaline bodies are poorly understood despite their apparent necessity for the proper functioning of haustoria. Reported here is a cell wall-focused immunohistochemical study of the hyaline bodies of three species from the ecologically important clade of rhinanthoid Orobanchaceae.

Methods

Haustoria collected from laboratory-grown and field-collected plants of Rhinanthus minor, Odontites vernus and Melampyrum pratense attached to various hosts were immunolabelled for cell wall matrix glycans and glycoproteins using specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).

Key Results

Hyaline body cell wall architecture differed from that of the surrounding parenchyma in all species investigated. Enrichment in arabinogalactan protein (AGP) epitopes labelled with mAbs LM2, JIM8, JIM13, JIM14 and CCRC-M7 was prominent and coincided with reduced labelling of de-esterified homogalacturonan with mAbs JIM5, LM18 and LM19. Furthermore, paramural bodies, intercellular deposits and globular ergastic bodies composed of pectins, xyloglucans, extensins and AGPs were common. In Rhinanthus they were particularly abundant in pairings with legume hosts. Hyaline body cells were not in direct contact with haustorial xylem, which was surrounded by a single layer of paratracheal parenchyma with thickened cell walls abutting the xylem.

Conclusions

The distinctive anatomy and cell wall architecture indicate hyaline body specialization. Altered proportions of AGPs and pectins may affect the mechanical properties of hyaline body cell walls. This and the association with a transfer-like type of paratracheal parenchyma suggest a role in nutrient translocation. Organelle-rich protoplasts and the presence of exceptionally profuse intra- and intercellular wall materials when attached to a nitrogen-fixing host suggest subsequent processing and transient storage of nutrients. AGPs might therefore be implicated in nutrient transfer and metabolism in haustoria.  相似文献   

8.

Background and Aims

The production of multicellular gametangia in green plants represents an early evolutionary development that is found today in all land plants and advanced clades of the Charophycean green algae. The processing of cell walls is an integral part of this morphogenesis yet very little is known about cell wall dynamics in early-divergent green plants such as the Charophycean green algae. This study represents a comprehensive analysis of antheridium development and spermatogenesis in the green alga, Chara corallina.

Methods

Microarrays of cell wall components and immunocytochemical methods were employed in order to analyse cell wall macromolecules during antheridium development.

Key Results

Cellulose and pectic homogalacturonan epitopes were detected throughout all cell types of the developing antheridium including the unique cell wall protuberances of the shield cells and the cell walls of sperm cell initials. Arabinogalactan protein epitopes were distributed only in the epidermal shield cell layers and anti-xyloglucan antibody binding was only observed in the capitulum region that initially yields the sperm filaments. During the terminal stage of sperm development, no cell wall polymers recognized by the probes employed were found on the scale-covered sperm cells.

Conclusions

Antheridium development in C. corallina is a rapid event that includes the production of cell walls that contain polymers similar to those found in land plants. While pectic and cellulosic epitopes are ubiquitous in the antheridium, the distribution of arabinogalactan protein and xyloglucan epitopes is restricted to specific zones. Spermatogenesis also includes a major switch in the production of extracellular matrix macromolecules from cell walls to scales, the latter being a primitive extracellular matrix characteristic of green plants.  相似文献   

9.

Background and Aims

The epidermis of an expanding dicot leaf is a mosaic of cells differing in identity, size and differentiation stage. Here hypotheses are tested that in such a cell mosaic growth is heterogeneous and changes with time, and that this heterogeneity is not dependent on the cell cycle regulation per se.

Methods

Shape, size and growth of individual cells were followed with the aid of sequential replicas in expanding leaves of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana and triple cyclinD3 mutant plants, and combined with ploidy estimation using epi-fluorescence microscopy.

Key Results

Relative growth rates in area of individual epidermal cells or small cell groups differ several fold from those of adjacent cells, and change in time. This spatial and temporal variation is not related to the size of either the cell or the nucleus. Shape changes and growth within an individual cell are also heterogeneous: anticlinal wall waviness appears at different times in different wall portions; portions of the cell periphery in contact with different neighbours grow with different rates. This variation is not related to cell growth anisotropy. The heterogeneity is typical for both the wild type and cycD3.

Conclusions

Growth of leaf epidermis exhibits spatiotemporal variability.  相似文献   

10.

Background and Aims

Cutting plant material is essential for observing internal structures and may be difficult for various reasons. Most fixation agents such as aldehydes, as well as embedding resins, do not allow subsequent use of fluorescent staining and make material too soft to make good-quality hand-sections. Moreover, cutting thin roots can be very difficult and time consuming. A new, fast and effective method to provide good-quality sections and fluorescent staining of fresh or fixed root samples, including those of very thin roots (such as Arabidopsis or Noccaea), is described here.

Methods

To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties the following procedure is proposed: fixation in methanol (when fresh material cannot be used) followed by en bloc staining with toluidine blue, embedding in 6 % agarose, preparation of free-hand sections of embedded material, staining with fluorescent dye, and observation in a microscope under UV light.

Key Results

Despite eventual slight deformation of primary cell walls (depending on the species and root developmental stage), this method allows effective observation of different structures such as ontogenetic changes of cells along the root axis, e.g. development of xylem elements, deposition of Casparian bands and suberin lamellae in endodermis or exodermis or peri-endodermal thickenings in Noccaea roots.

Conclusions

This method provides good-quality sections and allows relatively rapid detection of cell-wall modifications. Also important is the possibility of using this method for free-hand cutting of extremely thin roots such as those of Arabidopsis.  相似文献   

11.

Background and Aims

A previous study detected no allozyme diversity in Iberian populations of the buckler-fern Dryopteris aemula. The use of a more sensitive marker, such as microsatellites, was thus needed to reveal the genetic diversity, breeding system and spatial genetic structure of this species in natural populations.

Methods

Eight microsatellite loci for D. aemula were developed and their cross-amplification with other ferns was tested. Five polymorphic loci were used to characterize the amount and distribution of genetic diversity of D. aemula in three populations from the Iberian Peninsula and one population from the Azores.

Key Results

Most microsatellite markers developed were transferable to taxa close to D. aemula. Overall genetic variation was low (HT = 0·447), but was higher in the Azorean population than in the Iberian populations of this species. Among-population genetic differentiation was high (FST = 0·520). All loci strongly departed from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. In the population where genetic structure was studied, no spatial autocorrelation was found in any distance class.

Conclusions

The higher genetic diversity observed in the Azorean population studied suggested a possible refugium in this region from which mainland Europe has been recolonized after the Pleistocene glaciations. High among-population genetic differentiation indicated restricted gene flow (i.e. lack of spore exchange) across the highly fragmented area occupied by D. aemula. The deviations from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium reflected strong inbreeding in D. aemula, a trait rarely observed in homosporous ferns. The absence of spatial genetic structure indicated effective spore dispersal over short distances. Additionally, the cross-amplification of some D. aemula microsatellites makes them suitable for use in other Dryopteris taxa.  相似文献   

12.

Background and Aims

Asexual reproduction is a prominent evolutionary process within land plant lineages and especially in ferns. Up to 10 % of the approx. 10 000 fern species are assumed to be obligate asexuals. In the Asplenium monanthes species complex, previous studies identified two triploid, apomictic species. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships in the A. monanthes complex and to investigate the occurrence and evolution of apomixis within this group.

Methods

DNA sequences of three plastid markers and one nuclear single copy gene were used for phylogenetic analyses. Reproductive modes were assessed by examining gametophytic and sporophyte development, while polyploidy was inferred from spore measurements.

Key Results

Asplenium monanthes and A. resiliens are confirmed to be apomictic. Asplenium palmeri, A. hallbergii and specimens that are morphologically similar to A. heterochroum are also found to be apomictic. Apomixis is confined to two main clades of taxa related to A. monanthes and A. resiliens, respectively, and is associated with reticulate evolution. Two apomictic A. monanthes lineages, and two putative diploid sexual progenitor species are identified in the A. monanthes clade.

Conclusions

Multiple origins of apomixis are inferred, in both alloploid and autoploid forms, within the A. resiliens and A. monanthes clades.  相似文献   

13.
Budke JM  Goffinet B  Jones CS 《Annals of botany》2011,107(8):1279-1286

Background and Aims

The maternal gametophytic calyptra is critical for moss sporophyte development and ultimately sporogenesis. The calyptra has been predicted to protect the sporophyte apex, including the undifferentiated sporogenous region and seta meristem, from desiccation. We investigate the hypothesis that this waterproofing ability is due to a waxy cuticle. The idea that moss calyptrae are covered by a cuticle has been present in the literature for over a century, but, until now, neither the presence nor the absence of a cuticle has been documented for any calyptra.

Methods

The epidermis of the calyptra, leafy gametophyte and sporophyte sporangia of the moss Funaria hygrometrica were examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Thicknesses of individual cuticle layers were quantified and compared statistically. The immunochemistry antibody (LM19) specific for pectins was used to locate cell wall material within the cuticle.

Key Results

A multi-layered cuticle is present on the calyptra of F. hygrometrica, including layers analogous to the cuticular layer, cell wall projections, electron-lucent and electron-dense cuticle proper observed in vascular plants. The calyptra rostrum has a cuticle that is significantly thicker than the other tissues examined and differs by specialized thickenings of the cuticular layer (cuticular pegs) at the regions of the anticlinal cell walls. This is the first documentation of cuticular pegs in a moss.

Conclusions

The calyptra and its associated cuticle represent a unique form of maternal care in embryophytes. This organ has the potential to play a critical role in preventing desiccation of immature sporophytes and thereby may have been essential for the evolution of the moss sporophyte.  相似文献   

14.

Background and Aims

Populations established by long-distance colonization are expected to show low levels of genetic variation per population, but strong genetic differentiation among populations. Whether isolated populations indeed show this genetic signature of isolation depends on the amount and diversity of diaspores arriving by long-distance dispersal, and time since colonization. For ferns, however, reliable estimates of long-distance dispersal rates remain largely unknown, and previous studies on fern population genetics often sampled older or non-isolated populations. Young populations in recent, disjunct habitats form a useful study system to improve our understanding of the genetic impact of long-distance dispersal.

Methods

Microsatellite markers were used to analyse the amount and distribution of genetic diversity in young populations of four widespread calcicole ferns (Asplenium scolopendrium, diploid; Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens, tetraploid; Polystichum setiferum, diploid; and Polystichum aculeatum, tetraploid), which are rare in The Netherlands but established multiple populations in a forest (the Kuinderbos) on recently reclaimed Dutch polder land following long-distance dispersal. Reference samples from populations throughout Europe were used to assess how much of the existing variation was already present in the Kuinderbos.

Key Results

A large part of the Dutch and European genetic diversity in all four species was already found in the Kuinderbos. This diversity was strongly partitioned among populations. Most populations showed low genetic variation and high inbreeding coefficients, and were assigned to single, unique gene pools in cluster analyses. Evidence for interpopulational gene flow was low, except for the most abundant species.

Conclusions

The results show that all four species, diploids as well as polyploids, were capable of frequent long-distance colonization via single-spore establishment. This indicates that even isolated habitats receive dense and diverse spore rains, including genotypes capable of self-fertilization. Limited gene flow may conserve the genetic signature of multiple long-distance colonization events for several decades.  相似文献   

15.

Background and Aims

Previous work on the pantropical genus Ixora has revealed an Afro-Madagascan clade, but as yet no study has focused in detail on the evolutionary history and morphological trends in this group. Here the evolutionary history of Afro-Madagascan Ixora spp. (a clade of approx. 80 taxa) is investigated and the phylogenetic trees compared with several key morphological traits in taxa occurring in Madagascar.

Methods

Phylogenetic relationships of Afro-Madagascan Ixora are assessed using sequence data from four plastid regions (petD, rps16, rpoB-trnC and trnL-trnF) and nuclear ribosomal external transcribed spacer (ETS) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. The phylogenetic distribution of key morphological characters is assessed. Bayesian inference (implemented in BEAST) is used to estimate the temporal origin of Ixora based on fossil evidence.

Key Results

Two separate lineages of Madagascan taxa are recovered, one of which is nested in a group of East African taxa. Divergence in Ixora is estimated to have commenced during the mid Miocene, with extensive cladogenesis occurring in the Afro-Madagascan clade during the Pliocene onwards.

Conclusions

Both lineages of Madagascan Ixora exhibit morphological innovations that are rare throughout the rest of the genus, including a trend towards pauciflorous inflorescences and a trend towards extreme corolla tube length, suggesting that the same ecological and selective pressures are acting upon taxa from both Madagascan lineages. Novel ecological opportunities resulting from climate-induced habitat fragmentation and corolla tube length diversification are likely to have facilitated species radiation on Madagascar.  相似文献   

16.

Background and Aims

While molecular approaches can often accurately reconstruct species relationships, taxa that are incompletely differentiated pose a challenge even with extensive data. Such taxa are functionally differentiated, but may be genetically differentiated only at small and/or patchy regions of the genome. This issue is considered here in Poa tussock grass species that dominate grassland and herbfields in the Australian alpine zone.

Methods

Previously reported tetraploidy was confirmed in all species by sequencing seven nuclear regions and five microsatellite markers. A Bayesian approach was used to co-estimate nuclear and chloroplast gene trees with an overall dated species tree. The resulting species tree was used to examine species structure and recent hybridization, and intertaxon fertility was tested by experimental crosses.

Key Results

Species tree estimation revealed Poa gunnii, a Tasmanian endemic species, as sister to the rest of the Australian alpine Poa. The taxa have radiated in the last 0·5–1·2 million years and the non-gunnii taxa are not supported as genetically distinct. Recent hybridization following past species divergence was also not supported. Ongoing gene flow is suggested, with some broad-scale geographic structure within the group.

Conclusions

The Australian alpine Poa species are not genetically distinct despite being distinguishable phenotypically, suggesting recent adaptive divergence with ongoing intertaxon gene flow. This highlights challenges in using conventional molecular taxonomy to infer species relationships in recent, rapid radiations.  相似文献   

17.

Background and Aims

The anatomy of Equisetum stems is characterized by the occurrence of vallecular and carinal canals. Previous studies on the carinal canals in several Equisetum species suggest that they convey water from one node to another.

Methods

Cell wall composition and ultrastructure have been studied using immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy, respectively. Serial sectioning and X-ray computed tomography were employed to examine the internode–node–internode transition of Equisetum ramosissimum.

Key Results

The distribution of the LM1 and JIM20 extensin epitopes is restricted to the lining of carinal canals. The monoclonal antibodies JIM5 and LM19 directed against homogalacturonan with a low degree of methyl esterification and the CBM3a probe recognizing crystalline cellulose also bound to this lining. The xyloglucan epitopes recognized by LM15 and CCRC-M1 were only detected in this lining after pectate lyase treatment. The carinal canals, connecting consecutive rings of nodal xylem, are formed by the disruption and dissolution of protoxylem elements during elongation of the internodes. Their inner surface appears smooth compared with that of vallecular canals.

Conclusions

The carinal canals in E. ramosissimum have a distinctive lining containing pectic homogalacturonan, cellulose, xyloglucan and extensin. These canals might function as water-conducting channels which would be especially important during the elongation of the internodes when protoxylem is disrupted and the metaxylem is not yet differentiated. How the molecularly distinct lining relates to the proposed water-conducting function of the carinal canals requires further study. Efforts to elucidate the spatial and temporal distribution of cell wall polymers in a taxonomically broad range of plants will probably provide more insight into the structural–functional relationships of individual cell wall components or of specific configurations of cell wall polymers.  相似文献   

18.

Background

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is widely used to produce insertions into plant genomes. There are a number of well-developed Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methods for dicotyledonous plants, but there are few for monocotyledonous plants.

Methods

Three hydrolase genes were transiently expressed in Brachypodium distachyon plants using specially designed vectors that express the gene product of interest and target it to the plant cell wall. Expression of functional hydrolases in genotyped plants was confirmed using western blotting, activity assays, cell wall compositional analysis and digestibility tests.

Key Results

An efficient, new, Agrobacterium-mediated approach was developed for transient gene expression in the grass B. distachyon, using co-cultivation of mature seeds with bacterial cells. This method allows transformed tissues to be obtained rapidly, within 3–4 weeks after co-cultivation. Also, the plants carried transgenic tissue and maintained transgenic protein expression throughout plant maturation. The efficiency of transformation was estimated at around 5 % of initially co-cultivated seeds. Application of this approach to express three Aspergillus nidulans hydrolases in the Brachypodium cell wall successfully confirmed its utility and resulted in the expected expression of active microbial proteins and alterations of cell wall composition. Cell wall modifications caused by expression of A. nidulans α-arabinofuranosidase and α-galactosidase increased the biodegradability of plant biomass.

Conclusions

This newly developed approach is a quick and efficient technique for expressing genes of interest in Brachypodium plants, which express the gene product throughout development. In the future, this could be used for broad functional genomics studies of monocots and for biotechnological applications, such as plant biomass modification for biofuel production.  相似文献   

19.
20.

Background and Aims

Climate change is expected to alter the geographic range of many plant species dramatically. Predicting this response will be critical to managing the conservation of plant resources and the effects of invasive species. The aim of this study was to predict the response of temperate homosporous ferns to climate change.

Methods

Genetic diversity and changes in distribution range were inferred for the diploid rock fern Asplenium fontanum along a South–North transect, extending from its putative last glacial maximum (LGM) refugia in southern France towards southern Germany and eastern-central France. This study reconciles observations from distribution models and phylogeographic analyses derived from plastid and nuclear diversity.

Key Results

Genetic diversity distribution and niche modelling propose that genetic diversity accumulates in the LGM climate refugium in southern France with the formation of a diversity gradient reflecting a slow, post-LGM range expansion towards the current distribution range. Evidence supports the fern''s preference for outcrossing, contradicting the expectation that homosporous ferns would populate new sites by single-spore colonization. Prediction of climate and distribution range change suggests that a dramatic loss of range and genetic diversity in this fern is possible. The observed migration is best described by the phalanx expansion model.

Conclusions

The results suggest that homosporous ferns reproducing preferentially by outcrossing accumulate genetic diversity primarily in LGM climate refugia and may be threatened if these areas disappear due to global climate change.  相似文献   

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