Resolution of Channels in the Exine by Translocation of Colloidal Iron

The morphology of the exine of many pollen grains, at the time of flowering, is such that one can suppose that transport of substances through the exine occurred during pollen development. Holes or channels, microscopic to submicroscopic, are described for a large number of grains. An inner part of the exine of Epilobium angustifolium L. and E. montanum L., which may be referred to as the endexine, has irregularly shaped channels early in pollen development although by microspore mitosis there is no indication of such channeling in chemically fixed material. The nucleus in microspores used in the experiment reported here was in prophase of microspore mitosis and the endexine, while lamellated in untreated grains, did not contain irregularly shaped channels. Untreated material from the same part of the inflorescence as iron treated stamens was examined following fixation with 0.1M glutaraldehyde in cacodylate-HCl buffer at pH 6.9 (315 milliosmoles) for 24 hrs, 4% formaldehyde in phosphate buffer at pH 7.2 (1,300 milliosmoles) for 12 hrs, 1% glutaraldehyde mixed with 0.1% osmium tetroxide for 20 min, osmium tetroxide in deionized water for 2 hrs and 1% glutaraldehyde mixed with 4% formaldehyde in 0.1M cacodylate-HCl buffer at pH 6.9 for two hrs.