biologia plantarum

International journal on Plant Life established by Bohumil Němec in 1959

Biologia plantarum 58:551-560, 2014 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-014-0433-6

From birth to death - Populus trichocarpa fibrous roots functional anatomy

A. Bagniewska-Zadworna1,*, A. Stelmasik1, J. Minicka1,2
1 Department of General Botany, Institute of Experimental Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
2 Department of Virology and Bacteriology, Institute of Plant Protection-National Research Institute, Poznań, Poland

The main task of annually grown fibrous roots is to supply aboveground organs with water and nutrients. The key for this function, the development and mortality of primary tissues during a root lifespan is still poorly understood, especially in plants grown under field conditions. The goal of this study was to investigate the differentiation and maturation of fibrous roots from the initial appearance until the senescence and death. We monitored the histogenesis and anatomy of first order fibrous roots of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. & Gray) sampled at a known age. The daily examination of the first order fibrous roots revealed that only primary tissues were differentiated during the first seven days after their initiation and were maintained during the root lifespan. We observed all stages of exodermis and endodermis formation regulation a fibrous root water and nutrients uptake capacity. A cytological analysis, examined if any cellular symptoms of autophagy could be detected in senescent roots, indicated that vacuolar cell death was involved in root mortality. Our results are the first report strongly suggesting that programmed cell death (PCD) could be engaged in the senescence of ephemeral fibrous roots. The anatomical results advance our understanding of how roots absorptive ability is related to precise timing of tissue development during primary growth and of fibrous root senescence after fulfilment of its tasks.

Keywords: black cottonwood; programmed cell death; root senescence; transmission electron microscopy
Subjects: root anatomy; programmed cell death; root senescence; TEM; fluorescence; root cytology; poplar

Received: October 23, 2013; Revised: March 5, 2014; Accepted: March 10, 2014; Published: September 1, 2014  Show citation

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Bagniewska-Zadworna, A., Stelmasik, A., & Minicka, J. (2014). From birth to death - Populus trichocarpa fibrous roots functional anatomy. Biologia plantarum58(3), 551-560. doi: 10.1007/s10535-014-0433-6
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