Ultrastructure, chemical composition, and recrystallization of epicuticular waxes: transversely ridged rodlets

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 706-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Meusel ◽  
Christoph Neinhuis ◽  
Claus Markstädter ◽  
Wilhelm Barthlott

Transversely ridged rodlets (Aristolochia-type) are of high systematic significance characterizing the ancestral Aristolochiales, Magnoliales, and Laurales. Sporadically, they also occur in various unrelated derived taxa. The ultrastructure, chemistry, and recrystallization of epicuticular waxes of nine species were investigated by high resolution scanning electron microscopy, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. Chemical analyses show that transversely ridged rodlets clearly differ in their composition. Waxes of one group are characterized by ketones, whereas a second group completely lacks ketones and is dominated by alkanes. Hentriacontan-16-one (palmitone) was found to be characteristic for transversely ridged rodlets of Aristolochia, Laurus, and Paeonia. Standard solutions were taken for recrystallization experiments under different conditions of solvent, crystallization velocity, and temperature. It was shown that transversely ridged rodlets or related crystals grow from total waxes of all species but never crystallize from individual compounds such as alkanes or palmitone. We concluded that transversely ridged crystals are formed by self-assembly based on a slow crystallization process and the presence of additives. This paper shows that transversely ridged rodlets occur convergently within angiosperms based on a similar mode of crystallization but a different chemical composition. The role of palmitone as a chemotaxonomic character of ancestral angiosperms is discussed.Key words: plant cuticle, epicuticular waxes, chemistry, ultrastructure, recrystallization, systematics.

Author(s):  
Douglas William Jones

Within the past 20 years, archaeobotanical research in the Eastern United States has documented an early agricultural complex before the dominance of the Mesoamerican domesticates (corn, beans, and squash) in late prehistoric and historic agricultural systems. This early agricultural complex consisted of domesticated plants such as Iva annua var.macrocarpa (Sumpweed or Marshelder), Hellanthus annuus (Sunflower) and Chenopodium berlandieri, (Goosefoot or Lasbsquarters), and heavily utilized plants such as Polygonum erectum (Erect Knotweed), Phalaris caroliniana (May grass), and Hordeum pusillum (Little Barley).Recent research involving the use of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) specifically on Chenopodium has established diagnostic traits of wild and domesticated species seeds. This is important because carbonized or uncarbonized seeds are the most commonly recovered Chenopodium material from archaeological sites. The diagnostic seed traits assist archaeobotanists in identification of Chenopodium remains and provide a basis for evaluation of Chenopodium utilization in a culture's subsistence patterns. With the aid of SEM, an analysis of Chenopodium remains from three Late Prehistoric sites in Northwest Iowa (Blood Run [Oneota culture], Brewster [Mill Creek culture], and Chan-Ya-Ta [Mill Creek culture]) has been conducted to: 1) attempt seed identification to a species level, 2) evaluate the traits of the seeds for classification as either wild or domesticated, and 3) evaluate the role of Chenopodium utilization in both the Oneota and Mill Creek cultures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 923-929
Author(s):  
Gaurav Pandey ◽  
Prem Prakash Das ◽  
Vibin Ramakrishnan

Background: RADA-4 (Ac-RADARADARADARADA-NH2) is the most extensively studied and marketed self-assembling peptide, forming hydrogel, used to create defined threedimensional microenvironments for cell culture applications. Objectives: In this work, we use various biophysical techniques to investigate the length dependency of RADA aggregation and assembly. Methods: We synthesized a series of RADA-N peptides, N ranging from 1 to 4, resulting in four peptides having 4, 8, 12, and 16 amino acids in their sequence. Through a combination of various biophysical methods including thioflavin T fluorescence assay, static right angle light scattering assay, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), electron microscopy, CD, and IR spectroscopy, we have examined the role of chain-length on the self-assembly of RADA peptide. Results: Our observations show that the aggregation of ionic, charge-complementary RADA motifcontaining peptides is length-dependent, with N less than 3 are not forming spontaneous selfassemblies. Conclusion: The six biophysical experiments discussed in this paper validate the significance of chain-length on the epitaxial growth of RADA peptide self-assembly.


Author(s):  
Congmin Li ◽  
Yanguo Yin ◽  
Ming Xu ◽  
Jianfeng Cheng ◽  
Lan Shen ◽  
...  

Abstract The microstructures of an Al-Bi immiscible alloy and the corresponding composites containing TiC (1 wt.% and 2 wt.%) were explored for melt temperatures of 800 °C, 850 °C, and 900°C. It was demonstrated that serious coarsening and macrosegregation of Bi-rich minority phase particles occurred, which was slightly alleviated by increasing the melt temperature from 800 °C to 900 °C. By adding TiC particles, the coarsening and macrosegregation of Bi-rich minority phase particles were significantly impeded. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that TiC particles were located inside and on the surface of Bi-rich minority phase particles, exhibiting heterogeneous nucleation and self-assembly behaviour. By properly increasing the holding time of the melt, finer and more uniform Bi-rich minority phase particles were obtained.


1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Falk ◽  
Richard Guggenheim ◽  
Gerhard Schulke

The leaves of tall morningglory, giant duckweed, and common purslane were treated with nine surfactants at a concentration of 0.1% and examined after 24 hr using cryo-scanning electron microscopy for phytotoxicity as evidenced by tissue damage and epicuticular wax morphology changes. In some instances, tissue damage could be discerned; however, the effects of a particular surfactant were not uniform across the three species. Morphological alteration of epicuticular waxes was not observed. Gas chromatographic analyses of the epicuticular waxes of the species used in the study reveal component differences and may, in part, explain the lack of uniform response across species for a particular surfactant.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1613-1619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Rondeau-Gagné ◽  
Jules Roméo Néabo ◽  
Maxime Daigle ◽  
Katy Cantin ◽  
Jean-François Morin

The synthesis and self-assembly of two new phenylacetylene macrocycle (PAM) organogelators were performed. Polar 2-hydroxyethoxy side chains were incorporated in the inner part of the macrocycles to modify the assembly mode in the gel state. With this modification, it was possible to increase the reactivity of the macrocycles in the xerogel state to form polydiacetylenes (PDAs), leading to a significant enhancement of the polymerization yields. The organogels and the PDAs were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1879-1887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.K. Jee ◽  
Y.H. Ko ◽  
Jin Yu

Varying amounts of Zn (1, 3, and 7 wt%) were added to Sn–3.5Ag solder on a Cu pad, and the resultant solder joint microstructures after a reflow and isothermal aging (150 °C, up to 500 h) were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray, and x-ray diffraction, which were subsequently correlated to the results of microhardness and drop tests. Zinc was effective in improving the drop resistance of Sn–3.5Ag solder on the Cu pad, and an addition of 3 wt% Zn nearly doubled the number of drops-to-failure (Nf). The beneficial role of Zn was ascribed to suppression of Cu6Sn5 and precipitation of Zn-containing intermetallic compounds (IMCs). However, the Zn effect was reduced as Cu6Sn5 and Ag3Sn precipitated in a joint IMC layer after prolonged aging. The interface between Ag5Zn8 and Cu5Zn8 was resistant to drop impact, but two other layered IMC structures of Cu6Sn5/Cu3Sn and Cu5Zn8/Cu6Sn5 were not.


2012 ◽  
Vol 554-556 ◽  
pp. 709-713
Author(s):  
Yan Hong Liu ◽  
Hong Wen Ma ◽  
Mei Tang Liu

The morphology and particle size of boehmite play a decisive role on the application of alumina that derived from it. In this paper, we employed pseudoboehmite that produced from Al2 (SO4)3•18H2O and NH3•H2O at 70 °C, pH 7.5 as precursor to synthesize boehmite, and utilized different seeding when preparing pseudoboehmite and boehmite. To identify the influence of seeding on the microstructure of pseudoboehmite and boehmite, the products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and BET. The results indicate that the pseudoboehmite seeding has a significant influence on the morphology and particle size of pseudoboehmite to which we should pay high attention. However, the boehmite seeding does not play the role of crystal nucleus as expected. The further intrinsic mechanism study is ongoing.


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