Development of Heterodera glycines on Soybean Damaged by Soybean Looper and Stem Canker

Short-term greenhouse studies with soybean (Glycine max cv. Bragg) were used to examine interactions between the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines) and two other common pests of soybean, the stem canker fungus (Diaporthe phaseolorum var. caulivora) and the soybean looper (Pseudoplusia includens), a lepidopterous defoliator. Numbers of cyst nematode juveniles in roots and numbers of cysts in soil and roots were reduced on plants with stem cankers. Defoliation by soybean looper larvae had the opposite effect; defoliation levels of 22 and 64% caused stepwise increases in numbers of juveniles and cysts in both roots and soil, whereas numbers of females in roots decreased. In two experiments, stem canker length was reduced 40 and 45% when root systems were colonized by the soybean cyst nematode. The absence of significant interactions among these pests indicates that the effects of soybean cyst nematode, stem canker, and soybean looper on plant growth and each other primarily were additive.     

Ontogeny of the vascular bundles and contiguous tissues in the maize leaf blade

The patterns of initiation and early development of the minor and major veins in the flat portion of the leaf blade of maize (Zea mays L.) follow similar patterns. The veins and their associated bundle sheath cells commonly arise from cell assemblages derived from a single cell lineage, or longitudinal file of cells, rather than from two “half vein units” derived from different cell lineages. In addition, apparently, none of the vascular cells derived from the procambium is directly related ontogenetically to a bundle sheath cell. In veins derived from larger cell assemblages, the lateral bundle sheath cells are more closely related ontogenetically to the mesophyll cells, which are derived from the ground meristem, than to the vascular cells, which are derived from procambium. The bundle sheath cells, accordingly, are interpreted as being ground meristem in origin.     

Occurrence and phylogenetic significance of glucose utilization by charophycean algae: glucose enhancement of growth in Coleochaete orbicularis

Two critical innovations had a profound influence upon the evolutionary history of plants: the nutritionally dependent embryo and apoplastic phloem loading processes. Both depend upon the ability of the plant cell membrane to transport sugars. The evolutionary origin of sugar transport by plants is, therefore, of special phylogenetic importance. Recent evidence suggests that hexoses such as glucose are the main form of sugar transported apoplastically across the placental junction between gametophyte and sporophyte of the moss Polytrichum (Renault et al., 1992, Plant Physiology 100: 1815–1822). There is also considerable evidence that hexose transport may be involved in apoplastic phloem loading in Arabidopsis and other flowering plants. Results of numerous molecular, biochemical, immunofluorescence, and ultrastructural studies indicate that bryophytes and charophycean algae are related to the ancestors of vascular plants. This report demonstrates that the charophyte Coleochaete orbicularis exhibits enhanced growth in the presence of glucose under conditions in which inorganic carbon sources are limiting. Computer image analysis was used to demonstrate that nonaerated cultures of C. orbicularis grown for 7 weeks in an inorganic medium supplemented with 1% glucose produce as much as 13.6 times the biomass of clonal cultures grown for the same length of time in the same medium without glucose. Furthermore, addition of 1% glucose to nonaerated cultures yielded chlorophyll a concentration 20 times higher after 4 weeks growth than cultures grown under the same conditions without added glucose. This and other evidence derived from comparative growth measurements strongly suggest that Coleochaete takes up (or loads) glucose. Experimental results also suggest that hexose uptake by charophytes (such as Coleochaete) that typically grow in low alkalinity waters might provide a supplementary source of organic carbon when dissolved carbon dioxide levels are low. This capability could have served as an evolutionary precursor to hexose import by plant embryos, as well as leptom and phloem loading in bryophytes and vascular plants.