AOBPreview originally published online on January 26, 2004
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Annals of Botany 93: 235-248, 2004
© 2004 Annals of Botany Company
Silica Deposition in Relation to Ageing of Leaf Tissues in Sasa veitchii (Carrière) Rehder (Poaceae: Bambusoideae)
1 The Botanical Garden, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-0862, Japan and 2 Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba Norin PO Box 16, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan
* For correspondence and reprint requests. Present address: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa 920-0934, Japan. E-mail hmochi{at}mail.p.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
Received: 2 July 2003;; Returned for revision: 24 September 2003; Accepted: 11 November 2003, Published electronically: 26 January 2004
• Background and Aims Silica deposition is one of the important characteristics of plants in the family Poaceae. There have been many investigations into the distribution, deposition and physiological functions of silica in this family. Two hypotheses on silica deposition have been proposed based on these studies. First, that silica deposition occurs passively as a result of water uptake by plants, and second, that silica deposition is controlled positively by plants. To test these two apparently contradictory hypotheses, silica deposition in relation to the ageing of leaf tissues in Sasa veitchii was investigated.
• Methods Tissues were examined using a light microscope and a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray microanalyser.
• Key Results The deposition process differed depending on cell type. In mesophyll tissue, fusoid cells deposited large amounts of silica depending on leaf age after maturation, while chlorenchyma cells deposited little. In epidermal tissue, comprised of eight cell types, only silica cells deposited large amounts of silica during the leaf’s developmental process and none after maturation. Bulliform cells, micro-hairs and prickle hairs deposited silica densely and continuously after leaf maturation. Cork cells, guard cells, long cells and subsidiary cells deposited silica at low levels.
• Conclusions The significance of these observations is discussed in relation to the two hypotheses proposed for silica deposition in Poaceae. The results of the present study clearly indicate that both hypotheses are compatible with each other dependent on cell types.
Key words: Sasa veitchii, Poaceae, silica deposition, leaf, ageing, epidermis, mesophyll, fusoid cell, clearing method, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis.
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