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AOBPreview published online on September 16, 2004
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mch198
© 2004 by Annals of Botany Company
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Received April 26, 2004
Revised June 21, 2004
Accepted August 4, 2004

Article

The Structure of Colleters in Several Species of Simira (Rubiaceae)

DENISE ESPELLET KLEIN 1, VALDIRENE MOREIRA GOMES 2, SEBASTIÃO JOSÉ DA SILVA-NETO 3, and MAURA DA CUNHA 1*

1 Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Tecidual, Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Brazil
2 Laboratório de Bioquímica e Fisiologia de Microrganismos, CBB, UENF, Brazil
3 Fundação Margareth Mee/Programa Mata Atlântica, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: maura{at}uenf.br.


  Abstract

• Background and Aims Colleters are secretory structures consisting of a parenchymatic middle axis surrounded by a layer of palisade-like epidermal cells. Colleters occur in a large number of rubiaceous species. Their function is to protect the developing shoot apex. They are also taxonomically useful in the Rubiaceae. This study characterized the structure of the colleters of Simira glaziovii, S. pikia and S. rubra and the biochemistry of secretions in S. glaziovii.

• Methods Stipules of the shoot apices of the three species studied were collected at Barragem de Saracuruna, in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The samples were fixed according to the usual methods for light and electron microscopy. Secretion stipules of S. glaziovii were washed with 0·1 M Tris-HCl plus 0·1 %Triton X-100 to extract proteins and carbohydrates.

• Key Results Colleters in these species are located at the base of the stipule. Each species shows a different pattern of distribution. They form as emergentia from the stipules. Simira glaziovii was different from the other two species because it exhibited vascular traces. The epidermal cells of colleters have dense cytoplasm, nuclei, small vacuoles, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria and extraplasmic spaces if they are secretory. The outer cell wall of the mature colleters differs from the outer cell wall of stipule cells and immature colleters. Both carbohydrates and proteins were found in secretions from the stipules of S. glaziovii.

• Conclusions Few ultrastructural differences were noted among the three species. These secretory structures not only protect the shoot apex, but also have taxonomic importance below the genus level.

Keywords: Colleters, secretory structure, microscopy, plant anatomy, ultrastructure, development, biochemistry, Simira, Rubiaceae.
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