AOBPreview originally published online on September 12, 2005
Annals of Botany 2005 96(6):1109-1119; doi:10.1093/aob/mci262
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Anatomical Features and Ultrastructure of Deschampsia antarctica (Poaceae) Leaves from Different Growing Habitats
WANOWSKA1,2,*
1 Department of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury, Oczapowskiego 1A, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland, 2 Department of Antarctic Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Ustrzycka 10/12, 02-141 Warsaw, Poland and 3 Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology, Maria-Curie Sk
odowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland
* For correspondence. E-mail i.gielwanowska{at}uwm.edu.pl
Received: 29 October 2004 Returned for revision: 21 January 2005 Accepted: 27 July 2005 Published electronically: 12 September 2005
• Background and Aims The leaf anatomy and ultrastructure of Deschampsia antarctica (Poaceae) plants growing in three different habitats (a dry site in the Antarctic tundra, a wet site in a zone exposed to sea spray and a greenhouse) were investigated. The ultrastructure of the leaves of D. antarctica has not been studied before.
• Methods Semi-thin sections of the D. antarctica leaves were stained with toluidine blue and viewed using a light microscope. Ultra-thin sections stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate were examined using a transmission electron microscope.
• Key Results Plants growing in the Antarctic tundra and in a greenhouse had stronger xerophytic features than those growing at the seashore. The stress response of D. antarctica plants growing in the wet environment, exposed to high salinity and flooding, included: irregular mesophyll cells, large intercellular spaces in the parenchymatic layer, bulliform epidermal cells and vascular bundles surrounded with deformed outer and inner bundle sheaths of leaves. The highest number of sclerenchymatic fibres is characteristic of the leaves of plants growing in a greenhouse, whereas the smallest was of plants growing in a wet habitat. Stress conditions can disturb the formation of sclerenchymatic fibres. In plants growing in the Maritime Antarctic the chloroplasts of the mesophyll cells of leaves are of an irregular shape, with pockets or invaginations inside the organelles and outgrowths. Both of them make the surfaces of chloroplasts larger, and result in an increase in the amount of substances exchanged between the chloroplasts and cytoplasm or the other organelles. The leaf mesophyll cells of D. antarctica plants growing in Antarctica contain atypical structures including numerous vesicles of different sizes and concentrically arranged membranes.
• Conclusions The anatomical and ultrastructural features of the leaf and their changes under stress conditions are considered in relation to the adaptations of D. antarctica to the climate conditions in the Maritime Antarctic.
Key words: Deschampsia antarctica, anatomical features, mesophyll cells, ultrastructure, stress condition, Poaceae, Antarctica, phenotypic plasticity, phenotypic response
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