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AOBPreview originally published online on June 4, 2007
Annals of Botany 2007 100(2):195-203; doi:10.1093/aob/mcm109
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Functional Utrastructure of Genlisea (Lentibulariaceae) Digestive Hairs

Bartosz Jan Plachno1,*, Malgorzata Kozieradzka-Kiszkurno2 and Piotr Swiatek3

1 Department of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Jagiellonian University, 52 Grodzka st., 31-044 Cracow, Poland
2 Department of Genetics and Cytology, University of Gdansk, Kladki 24 st., 80-822 Gdansk, Poland
3 Department of Animal Histology and Embryology, University of Silesia, 9 Bankowa st., 40-007 Katowice, Poland

* For correspondence. E-mail bartek78pl{at}poczta.onet.pl

Received: 19 March 2007    Returned for revision: 18 April 2007    Accepted: 23 April 2007    Published electronically: 4 June 2007

Background and Aims: Digestive structures of carnivorous plants produce external digestive enzymes, and play the main role in absorption. In Lentibulariaceae, the ultrastructure of digestive hairs has been examined in some detail in Pinguicula and Utricularia, but the sessile digestive hairs of Genlisea have received very little attention so far. The aim of this study was to fill this gap by expanding their morphological, anatomical and histochemical characterization.

Methods: Several imaging techniques were used, including light, confocal and electron microscopy, to reveal the structure and function of the secretory hairs of Genlisea traps. This report demonstrates the application of cryo-SEM for fast imaging of whole, physically fixed plant secretory structures.

Key Results and Conclusion: The concentration of digestive hairs along vascular bundles in subgenus Genlisea is a primitive feature, indicating its basal position within the genus. Digestive hairs of Genlisea consist of three compartments with different ultrastructure and function. In subgenus Tayloria the terminal hair cells are transfer cells, but not in species of subgenus Genlisea. A digestive pool of viscous fluid occurs in Genlisea traps. In spite of their similar architecture, the digestive-absorptive hairs of Lentibulariaceae feature differences in morphology and ultrastructure.

Key words: Genlisea, Lentibulariaceae, carnivorous syndrome, carnivorous plant, digestive hairs, ultrastructure, cryo-scanning electron microscopy, morphology, cuticle, secretory glands, functional anatomy, digestive glands


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