Histology and ultrastructure of oat blue dwarf virus infected oats

The oat blue dwarf virus is a small spherical virus (28–30 nm) in diameter and is obligatorily transmitted by the aster leafhopper Macrosteles fascifrons Stål. The virus causes abnormalities in the phloem development of infected plants. Hyperplasia and limited hypertrophy of phloic procambium, in a given procambial strand, begin only after the maturation of the first protophloem sieve-tube element in that particular localized area. The majority of phloem elements produced in hyperplastic areas are parenchymatous, have truncated end walls, and lack sieve plates. Electron-microscopic observations substantiated the hypothesis that the virus was phloem-limited by revealing virus particles only in phloem elements. The greatest accumulation of virus particles was observed in the region between immature and fully vacuolated phloem elements, implicating virus synthesis in immature elements. Crystals of virus particles were often large enough to be seen by light microscopy.

Sieve tube elements in the stem of Neptunia oleracea Lour

Some structural aspects of the phloem of Neptunia oleracea, an aquatic plant, are reported. The sieve tube elements on an average are 190μ long and 13μ wide and have compound sieve plates at varying degrees of inclination. The developing sieve tube element has a single large spindle-shaped slime body, which presumably has an outer membrane. The slime body undergoes dispersal before or after full development of the sieve plate, but often nuclear degeneration occurs first. Distinct slime plugs are absent. Plastids and other granular bodies are attached to many of the strands, which are less than 0.5μ in diameter. During the process of nuclear disintegration the nuclear membrane is indistinct, and extruded nucleolus is not observed. Sieve areas and connections are comparatively few in number, and the sieve areas and wall connections as well as the sieve plates show scanty callose deposition. Plastids are abundant in the sieve tube elements, especially near the sieve plates. The companion cells of two consecutive sieve tube elements are placed on alternate sides and hence their longitudinal continuity is not always maintained. Companion cells do not exceed the length of the sieve tube element.