Showing papers on "Vascular cambium published in 1996"

Auxin as a positional signal in pattern formation in plants.

Abstract: By using a novel, extremely sensitive and specific gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technique we demonstrate in Pinus sylvestris (L.) trees the existence of a steep radial concentration gradient of the endogenous auxin, indole-3-acetic acid, over the lateral meristem responsible for the bulk of plant secondary growth, the vascular cambium. This is the first evidence that plant morphogens, such as indole-3-acetic acid, occur in concentration gradients over developing tissues. This finding gives evidence for a regulatory system in plants based on positional signaling, similar to animal systems.

Expression of two heterologous promoters, Agrobacterium rhizogenes rolC and cauliflower mosaic virus 35S, in the stem of transgenic hybrid aspen plants during the annual cycle of growth and dormancy

Abstract: We monitored, for the first time, the activity of two model heterologous promoters, the Agrobacterium rhizogenes rolC and the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S, throughout the annual cycle of growth and dormancy in a perennial species, hybrid aspen. Each promoter was fused to the uidA beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene and the constructs were introduced into the hybrid aspen genome by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Both wild-type and transgenic plants were cultivated under different regimes of photoperiod and temperature to induce passage through one growth-dormancy-reactivation cycle, and at intervals GUS staining was assessed in stem sections. In rolC::uidA transformants, GUS activity in rapidly growing current-year shoots was not only tissue-specific, being localized to the phloem, but also cell-specific at the shoot base, where it was present only in the companion cells. However, during the onset of dormancy induced by short photoperiod, GUS activity shifted laterally from the phloem to include the cortex and pith. After subsequent exposure to chilling temperatures to induce the transition between the dormancy stages of rest and quiescence, GUS activity almost disappeared from all stem tissues, but regained its original phloem specificity and intensity after the shoots were reactivated by exposing them to long photoperiod and high temperatures. In contrast, GUS activity in the stem of 35S::uidA transformants was strong in all tissues except for the vascular cambium and xylem, and did not vary in intensity during the growth-dormancy-reactivation cycle. The lateral shift and increased intensity of GUS activity in the stem of rolC::uidA transformants during dormancy induction was shown to be associated with the accumulation of starch, and to be mimicked by incubating stem sections in sucrose, as well as glucose and fructose, but not sorbitol, prior to the GUS assay. Our results demonstrate that the activities of the rolC and 35S promoters varied in very different, unpredictable ways during the annual cycle of growth and dormancy in a perennial species, and indicate that the spatial and temporal variation in rolC promoter activity that we observed in the stem of transgenic hybrid aspen plants is attributable to cellular and seasonal changes in sucrose content.

Fibre length and gibberellins A1 and A20 are decreased in Eucalyptus globules by acylcyclohexanedione injected into the stem

Abstract: Trinexapac-ethyl (TriEt), an acylcyclohexanedione-type inhibitor of gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis, was applied to 3-year-old Eucalyptus globulus saplings by localised injection near the base of each stem. The objective was to alter cambial region GA levels and to study the effects on secondary xylem fibre development. Seven weeks later wood samples, with bark and cambial region intact, were removed 10 and 30 cm above the point of injection. Fusiform cambial cell dimensions were compared with those of fibre-tracheids in the most recently formed 100 μm of secondary xylem. Increasing TriEt applications from 5 to 5 000 mg active ingredient, significantly reduced average fibre length, and to a lesser extent average fusiform cambial cell length. Also reduced was the number of cells in the cambial zone and the number of differentiating fibres with primary walls. However, no trends were evident for changes in fibre diameter, the proportion of vessel elements or the ratio of cambial ray cells to fusiform cambial cells. Two gibberellins (GA 1 and GA 20 ), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) were quantified in cambial region tissues by gas chromatographymass spectrometry using stable isotope labelled internal standards. Increasing TriEt application reduced both GA 1 and GA 20 levels. Effects on IAA and ABA were not significant, although their levels tended to be lower at the highest TriEt application rate. The elongation of secondary xylem fibres was positively correlated with higher levels of endogenous GA, (r 5 =0.74, P<0.01) and GA 20 (r s =0.72, P<0.01). These results support a causal role for GA, in cambial cell division. They are also consistent with the hypothesis that the elongation of differentiating secondary xylem fibres in woody angiosperms is dependent on GA 1 levels in the cambial region.

Endogenous cytokinins in the vascular cambial region of Pinus sylvestris during activity and dormancy

Abstract: Elucidation of the role of endogenous cytokinins in cambial activity and wood formation requires knowledge of their identity and concentrations in the cambial region. Here, we have used capillary liquid chromatography/frit-FAB mass spectrometry to identify endogenous cytokinins in the vascular cambial region of mature Pinus sylvestris (L.) trees. Full-scan mass spectra were obtained for isopentenyladenine, isopentenyladenosine, zeatin riboside, dihydrozeatin and dihydrozeatin riboside. Of these, isopentenyladenine, dihydrozeatin and dihydrozeatin riboside are demonstrated by rigorous physico chemical methods for the first time in a conifer. In addition, an adenine glycoside was found for the first time in a plant. The identified cytokinins were quantified in active and dormant cambial region tissues by isotope dilution techniques using the appropriate deuterated isotope for each cytokinin species. The concentration of the detected cytokinins ranged between 1.3 and 5.5 pmol g -1 fresh weight, and did not vary greatly between dormant tissues, and in tissues actively dividing and differentiating. This observation indicates that cessation and reactivation of cell division activity in the vascular cambium is controlled by factors other than cytokinin availability.

The development of phloem anastomoses between vascular bundles and their role in xylem regeneration after wounding in Cucurbita and Dahlia.

Abstract: The differentiation of phloem anastomoses linking the longitudinal vascular bundles has been studied in stem internodes of Cucurbita maxima Duchesne, C. pepo L. and Dahlia pinnata Cav. These anastomoses comprise naturally occurring regenerative sieve tubes which redifferentiate from interfascicular parenchyma cells in the young internodes. In all three species, severing a vascular bundle in a young internode resulted in regeneration of xylem to form a curved by-pass immediately around the wound. The numerous phloem anastomoses in these young internodes were not involved in this process, the regenerated vessels originating from interfascicular parenchyma alone. Conversely, in mature internodes of Dahlia, the regenerated vessels originated from initials of the interfascicular cambia, and their phloem anastomoses did not influence the pattern of xylogenesis. On the other hand, in old internodes of Cucurbita, in which an interfascicular cambium was not yet developed, the parenchyma cells between the bundles had lost the ability to redifferentiate into vessel elements, and instead, regenerated vessels were produced in the phloem anastomoses. Thus, the wounded region of the vascular bundle was not bypassed via the shortest, curved pathway, but by more circuitous routes further away from the wound. Some of the regenerated vessels produced in the phloem anastomoses were extremely wide, and presumably efficient conductors of water. It is proposed that the dense network of phloem anastomoses developed during evolution as a mechanism of adaptation to possible damage in mature internodes by providing flexible alternative pathways for efficient xylem regeneration in plants with limited or no interfascicular cambium.

Tissue-specific accumulation of transcript encoding Δ1-pyrrolline-5-carboxylate reductase in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract: Δ1-pyrrolline-5-carboxylate reductase (EC 1.5.1.2; P5CR) catalyses the final step in proline biosynthesis from glutamate and ornithine, where Δ1-pyrrolline-5-carboxylate acts as an intermediate. In this study, differential accumulation of mRNA transcript encoding P5CR was investigated in tissues of the flowering stem of mature Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. In situ hybridisation indicated that under normal growth conditions, the highest concentration of P5CR transcripts occurs in the cortical parenchyma, phloem, vascular cambium and pith parenchyma in the vicinity of the protoxylem. Levels of signal generated in these tissues increased in plants deprived of water for eight days. Genomic Southern analysis suggests the existence of only a single copy of the gene encoding P5CR in Arabidopsis. This conclusion eliminates the possibility that different genes encoding P5CR may exhibit different tissue-specific patterns of transcript accumulation.

Immunolocalization of mannitol dehydrogenase in celery plants and cells.

Abstract: Immunolocalization of mannitol dehydrogenase (MTD) in celery (Apium graveolens L.) suspension cells and plants showed that MTD is a cytoplasmic enzyme. MTD was found in the meristems of celery root apices, in young expanding leaves, in the vascular cambium, and in the phloem, including sieve-element/companion cell complexes, parenchyma, and in the exuding phloem sap of cut petioles. Suspension cells that were grown in medium with mannitol as the sole carbon source showed a high anti-MTD cross-reaction in the cytoplasm, whereas cells that were grown in sucrose-containing medium showed little or no cross-reaction. Gel-blot analysis of proteins from vascular and nonvascular tissues of mature celery petioles showed a strong anti-MTD sera cross-reactive band, corresponding to the 40-kD molecular mass of MTD in vascular extracts, but no cross-reactive bands in nonvascular extracts. The distribution pattern of MTD within celery plants and in cell cultures that were grown on different carbon sources is consistent w ith the hypothesis that the Mtd gene may be regulated by sugar repression. Additionally, a developmental component may regulate the distribution of MTD within celery plants.

Responses of Water-Stressed Pinus thunbergii to Inoculation with Avirulent Pine Wood Nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus): Water Relations and Xylem Histology

Abstract: The effect of water-stress conditioning on water relations and histological features ofPinus thunbergii Parl inoculated with avirulent isolate ofBursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner and Buhrer) Nickle, pine wood nematode, were investigated Pines were kept under 8 days cycle of severe water stress One-half of the water-stressed pines died as a result of infection by avirulent pine wood nematode and water stress tended to induce increased susceptibility and/or decreased resistance of pines to avirulent pine wood nematode In dead pines, the water conducting function of xylem was lost, and all of the parenchyma cells died In surviving pines, the xylem hydraulic conductivity and the xylem water content were significantly reduced (12 to 23% and 77 to 83%, respectively) compared to controls Safranin dye perfusion of excised axis stem segments indicated that the water conductance was limited to the very narrow peripheral area of xylem Embolism caused by cavitation in the tracheids occurred in the central part of xylem and in that dysfunctional region of the xylem the axial parenchyma cells surrounding the epithelial cells, and ray parenchyma cells partly degenerated but the epithelial cells survived The disruption of tracheid shape observed in surviving pines indicates that avirulent pine wood nematode temporarily disturbed cell division of the cambium Considering the differences in responses between dead pines and surviving pines after inoculation with avirulent pine wood nematode, the death of water-stressed pines apparently resulted from death of cells, in particular the vascular cambium and the loss of xylem hydraulic function by cavitation

Comparative Structure Of Vascular Cambium And Its Derivatives In Some Species Of Sterculia

Abstract: Structural variations in cambium, xylem and phloem collected from main trunks of Sterculia colorata, S. alata, S. villosa, S. urens and S. foetida growing in the South Dangs forests were studied. In all five species, the cambium was storied with variations in the length of fusiform cambial cells. Compared to other species S. foetida had the longest and S. urens the shortest fusiform cambial cells. Cambial rays in all the species were compound (tall) and heterocellular with sheath cells. Their height and width were maximal in S. foetida and in S. villosa respectively. In all the species the storied nature of fusiform cambial cells was maintained in derivative cells that developed into sieve tube elements; vessel elements and axial parenchyma of both phloem and xylem. However, fibres of phloem and xylem were nonstoried. The dimensions of elements in phloem and xylem varied among the species. The variation in the mean length of sieve tube elements and vessel members coincided with that of fusiform cambial cells.