Abstract
Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Maxim. (Amur honeysuckle) is native to Asia and an important ornamental in China. However, the anatomy of leaf abscission (shedding) in L. maackii had not been studied previously. Such work is needed not only because knowledge of the leaf abscission process is important for a horticultural species like L. maackii but also because leaf abscission is probably the least understood abscission process, as it occurs so rapidly. Therefore, our objective was to use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine the progression of leaf abscission in L. maackii at the cellular level. L. maackii branches with leaves were regularly collected in Beijing, China over the 2-month period in which leaves abscise, and examined with SEM. We found that, unlike in model species, the cortex is involved in abscission, forming an “abaxial gap.” We discovered that there is no discrete abscission zone prior to the onset of abscission and that no cell divisions precede abscission. An abscission zone did become evident well after the abscission process had begun, but its cells were enlarged, not constricted as in typical abscission zones. In the abaxial gap, intact cells separated at their middle lamella, but in the abscission zone, cell separation involved the entire wall, which is not typical. We did observe expected mechanical fission of vascular tissues. While the leaf abscission process we observed in L. maackii has similarities with model systems, aspects deviate from the expected.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the fund for state key disciplines and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Laboratory [grant number: O5S0671204 provided to HFW] and a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant [grant number 164375 provided to CRF]. We are very grateful to Zhi-xin Zhu, Jie Li, and Jian-fei Ye for experimental assistance, and we sincerely thank Xiao-min Ma for help with referencing.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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C. Ross Friedman – English
J.-C. Shi – Chinese
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00709-010-0174-0
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Wang, HF., Ross Friedman, C.M., Shi, JC. et al. Anatomy of leaf abscission in the Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii, Caprifoliaceae): a scanning electron microscopy study. Protoplasma 247, 111–116 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-010-0159-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-010-0159-z