A freeze-etch study of plant cell walls for ectodesmata

1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 2033-2036 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. C. Lyon ◽  
W. C. Mueller

Leaf tissue of Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Plantago major L. was prepared by the freeze-etch technique and examined in the electron microscope for the presence of ectodesmata. No structures analagous to ectodesmata observed with light microscopy could be found in freeze-etched preparations of chemically unfixed material or in material fixed only in glutaraldehyde. Objects appearing as broad, shallow, granular areas in the epidermal cell wall beneath the cuticle were observed in leaf replicas after fixation in complete sublimate fixative, the acid components of the sublimate fixative, or mercuric chloride alone. Because of their distribution and location, these objects can be considered analagous to ectodesmata observed by light microscopists. Because these areas occur only in chemically fixed walls and are localized within the walls in discrete areas, their presence supports the contention that ectodesmata are sites in the outer cell wall with defined physicochemical characteristics.

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 824-831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Chapman ◽  
Anne-Sophie Blervacq ◽  
Théo Hendriks ◽  
Christian Slomianny ◽  
Jacques Vasseur ◽  
...  

In Cichorium hybrid clone 474 (C. intybus L. var. sativum × C. endivia L. var. latifolia), direct somatic embryogenesis was induced from roots. Using transmission electron microscopy, we followed the ultrastructural changes of the outer cell wall in relation to embryo developmental stage. During the transition from an embryogenic cell to a somatic embryo, the differentiation of the outer cell wall involved both deposition and rearrangement processes. During the first divisions, the cell wall of few-celled embryos still enclosed in the root tissue appeared as a large amorphous layer of cellulose, thicker than the cell walls of the root cortex cells. When the proembryo emerged from the root cells, the outer wall surface exhibited a fibrillar material designated as the supraembryonic network. As this network disappeared, the outer cell wall changed organization, and two domains were distinguished. At the torpedo stage, the outer cell wall was more compact without any gaps and the protoderm was differentiated. Immunolocalization of an epitope recognised by JIM5 antibody revealed the unesterified nature of the supraembryonic network. Such pectins were also located at the outer third of the outer cell wall of protodermal cells as well as in the intercellular spaces. Highly methylesterified pectins recognized by JIM7 antibodies were slightly present in the cell walls during the embryogenesis process. The different stages of the outer cell wall differentiation as well as the development of the transient supraembryonic network are described, and its possible roles in somatic embryogenesis are proposed.Key words: cell differentiation, cell wall, Cichorium (chicory), pectin, somatic embryogenesis, transmission electron microscopy.


Weed Science ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary F. Joye ◽  
Rex N. Paul

Infection of Hydrilla verticillata by Macrophomina phaseolina was investigated using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Sprigs of plants in petri plates were inoculated with suspensions of fungal hyphae. Samples of inoculated and noninoculated plants were taken over time. Fungal cells attached to lower epidermal cell walls but not the upper epidermal cell walls of leaves. In less than 40 h, penetration through the cell wall was completed and colonization of host cells was observed. Penetration of upper epidermis was limited to the cell wall adjacent to a lower epidermal cell. No penetration was observed through the outer cell wall of upper epidermis. Inhibition of penetration through the outer cell wall of the upper epidermis may be attributable to an osmiophilic layer below the cell wall. Disruption of the host cell walls and subsequent host cell death was preceded by massive colonization of the host by this pathogen.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1263
Author(s):  
David Stuart Thompson ◽  
Azharul Islam

The extensibility of synthetic polymers is routinely modulated by the addition of lower molecular weight spacing molecules known as plasticizers, and there is some evidence that water may have similar effects on plant cell walls. Furthermore, it appears that changes in wall hydration could affect wall behavior to a degree that seems likely to have physiological consequences at water potentials that many plants would experience under field conditions. Osmotica large enough to be excluded from plant cell walls and bacterial cellulose composites with other cell wall polysaccharides were used to alter their water content and to demonstrate that the relationship between water potential and degree of hydration of these materials is affected by their composition. Additionally, it was found that expansins facilitate rehydration of bacterial cellulose and cellulose composites and cause swelling of plant cell wall fragments in suspension and that these responses are also affected by polysaccharide composition. Given these observations, it seems probable that plant environmental responses include measures to regulate cell wall water content or mitigate the consequences of changes in wall hydration and that it may be possible to exploit such mechanisms to improve crop resilience.


eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
CJ Cambier ◽  
Steven M Banik ◽  
Joseph A Buonomo ◽  
Carolyn R Bertozzi

Several virulence lipids populate the outer cell wall of pathogenic mycobacteria. Phthiocerol dimycocerosate (PDIM), one of the most abundant outer membrane lipids, plays important roles in both defending against host antimicrobial programs and in evading these programs altogether. Immediately following infection, mycobacteria rely on PDIM to evade Myd88-dependent recruitment of microbicidal monocytes which can clear infection. To circumvent the limitations in using genetics to understand virulence lipids, we developed a chemical approach to track PDIM during Mycobacterium marinum infection of zebrafish. We found that PDIM's methyl-branched lipid tails enabled it to spread into host epithelial membranes to prevent immune activation. Additionally, PDIM’s affinity for cholesterol promoted this phenotype; treatment of zebrafish with statins, cholesterol synthesis inhibitors, decreased spreading and provided protection from infection. This work establishes that interactions between host and pathogen lipids influence mycobacterial infectivity and suggests the use of statins as tuberculosis preventive therapy by inhibiting PDIM spread.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimin Xu ◽  
Yuanyuan Zhao ◽  
Yuanzhen Suo ◽  
Yayu Guo ◽  
Yi Man ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Cell wall imaging can considerably permit direct visualization of the molecular architecture of cell walls and provide the detailed chemical information on wall polymers, which is imperative to better exploit and use the biomass polymers; however, detailed imaging and quantifying of the native composition and architecture in the cell wall remains challenging.Results: Here, we describe a label-free imaging technology, coherent Raman scattering microscopy (CRS), including coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, which images the major structures and chemical composition of plant cell walls. The major steps of the procedure are demonstrated, including sample preparation, setting the mapping parameters, analysis of spectral data, and image generation. Applying this rapid approach, which will help researchers understand the highly heterogeneous structures and organization of plant cell walls.Conclusions: This method can potentially be incorporated into label-free microanalyses of plant cell wall chemical composition based on the in situ vibrations of molecules.


2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Konarska

The seedlings of the red pepper (<i>Capsicum annuum</i> L.) cv. Trapez grown in water culture for a period of 14 days with Al (0, 10, 20 and 40 mg·dm<sup>-3</sup> AlCl<sub>3</sub>·6 H<sub>2</sub>O). Some morphological and anatomical features of red pepper shoots were analyzed. Reduction in height and diameter of stems as well as decrease in fresh mass of shoots were observed after Al-treatment. In the hypocotyl the thickness of cortex parenchyma layer and the size of their cells were reduced. The aluminum treatment resulted in the increased in thickness of the epidermis outer cell wall. Under Al stress in the cotrex and the central cylinder parenchyma cells were present numerous enlarge plastids which contained large grains of starch and dark little bodies which were possible aluminum deposits. They weren`t observed in control seedlings.


Author(s):  
WILLIAM S. YORK ◽  
ALAN G. DARVILL ◽  
MICHAEL MCNEIL ◽  
THOMAS T. STEVENSON ◽  
PETER ALBERSHEIM

Author(s):  
William S. York ◽  
Alan G. Darvill ◽  
Michael McNeil ◽  
Thomas T. Stevenson ◽  
Peter Albersheim

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