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Developmental anatomy of the fifth shoot-borne root in young sporophytes of Ceratopteris richardii

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Abstract

Young sporophytes of the homosporous fern Ceratopteris richardii produce a single shoot-borne root below each leaf. The developmental anatomy of the fifth sporophyte root is described using scanning electron microscopy and histological techniques. Three merophyte orthostichies in the body of the root originate from three proximal division faces of a tetrahedral root apical cell. Eight or nine divisions occur in a relatively regular sequence within each merophyte and produce a characteristic radial anatomical pattern in the root. The exact number of early divisions within a merophyte depends on the merophyte’s position within the root as a whole. Predictable inter-merophyte differences arise because a 2-fold (diarch) anatomical symmetry that is characteristic of mature roots is superimposed on a 3-fold radial symmetry that originates behind the apical cell. Before early formative divisions within a merophyte are completed, additional proliferative divisions begin to increase the number of cells within previously established tissue zones. The cellular parameters of early fifth root development in C. richardii are relatively invariant, and are reminiscent of patterns previously described for the heterosporous fern Azolla. Young sporophytes of C. richardii provide a useful model to further investigate the genetic regulation of root development in a non-seed plant, where the anatomy of meristem organization differs from that seen in flowering plant species.

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Abbreviations

SEM :

Scanning electron microscopy

RAC :

Root apical cell

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Acknowledgments

This article is in partial fulfillment of the dissertation requirements for a Ph.D. degree in botany for G. Hou at Idaho State University. This work was partially funded by the NSF-EPSCOR Program and the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement (EPS-9720634 and NSF STI 9413531), the Center for Ecological Research and Education at Idaho State University and NIH NCRR BRIN grant 1P20RR016454-01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Campus Box 8007, Pocatello, ID 83209-8007, USA

    Jeffrey P. Hill

  2. Center for Biotechnology, University of Nebrasca, Lincoln, N300 Beadle Center, 9th and Vine, Lincoln, NE 68588-0665, USA

    Gui-chuan Hou

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  1. Gui-chuan Hou
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  2. Jeffrey P. Hill
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Correspondence to Jeffrey P. Hill.

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Hou, Gc., Hill, J.P. Developmental anatomy of the fifth shoot-borne root in young sporophytes of Ceratopteris richardii . Planta 219, 212–220 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1225-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1225-6

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