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Boron deficiency affects cell morphology and structure of young leaves of radish

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Abstract

Boron (B) is an essential microelement for the growth and development of plants. B-deficient radish plants grew slowly compared to B-sufficient controls. Soluble B and cell wall-bound B decreased in young leaves on removal of B from culture medium. In old leaves, B deficiency reduced soluble B content but there was no significant effect on cell wall-bound B content compared to controls. The mesophyll cells in the middle of leaves were enlarged abnormally and had greater cell wall thickness under B-deficient conditions. B deficiency reduced the stomata frequency, inhibited the stomata aperture, and guard cells had thickened cell walls. B-starved leaves showed decreased photosynthesis and stomatal conductance. These indicate that B deficiency could interfere with cell wall development, especially irregular guard cell walls as a result of B deficiency severely affected the rhythmic stomatal closing and opening, preventing the normal functioning of stomata. Correspondingly, photosynthesis was indirectly affected, and plant growth decreased.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Toru Matoh and Prof. Keiji Takabe (Kyoto University, Japan) for their assistance. We wish to thank Prof. Masaru Kobayashi for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Foundation of Hainan University (No. ZXBJH-XK-001) and the Scientific and Technological Foundation of Hainan Province (No. ZDZX2013023).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresources/College of Agriculture, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

      Xinli Cong, Nan Lin, Zhihui Xia & Xingyu Jiang

    2. Hainan Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresources/College of Horticulture and Gardening, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

      Xinli Cong, Haiyu Jing & Mianjia Huang

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    1. Xinli Cong
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    Correspondence to Xingyu Jiang.

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    Communicated by G. Klobus.

    X. Cong and H. Jing have contributed equally to this work.

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    Cong, X., Jing, H., Lin, N. et al. Boron deficiency affects cell morphology and structure of young leaves of radish. Acta Physiol Plant 37, 247 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-015-2004-7

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