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From birth to death — Populus trichocarpa fibrous roots functional anatomy

  • Original Papers
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Biologia Plantarum

Abstract

The main task of annually grown fibrous roots is to supply aboveground organs with water and nutrients. The key for this function, the development and mortality of primary tissues during a root lifespan is still poorly understood, especially in plants grown under field conditions. The goal of this study was to investigate the differentiation and maturation of fibrous roots from the initial appearance until the senescence and death. We monitored the histogenesis and anatomy of first order fibrous roots of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. & Gray) sampled at a known age. The daily examination of the first order fibrous roots revealed that only primary tissues were differentiated during the first seven days after their initiation and were maintained during the root lifespan. We observed all stages of exodermis and endodermis formation regulation a fibrous root water and nutrients uptake capacity. A cytological analysis, examined if any cellular symptoms of autophagy could be detected in senescent roots, indicated that vacuolar cell death was involved in root mortality. Our results are the first report strongly suggesting that programmed cell death (PCD) could be engaged in the senescence of ephemeral fibrous roots. The anatomical results advance our understanding of how roots absorptive ability is related to precise timing of tissue development during primary growth and of fibrous root senescence after fulfilment of its tasks.

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Abbreviations

PCD:

programmed cell death

TEM:

transmission electron microscopy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Botany, Institute of Experimental Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, PL-61614, Poznań, Poland

    A. Bagniewska-Zadworna, A. Stelmasik & J. Minicka

  2. Department of Virology and Bacteriology, Institute of Plant Protection-National Research Institute, Węgorka 20, PL-60318, Poznań, Poland

    J. Minicka

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  1. A. Bagniewska-Zadworna
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  2. A. Stelmasik
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Correspondence to A. Bagniewska-Zadworna.

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Acknowledgements: This work was partially supported by grant No. NN309007437 from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and was a preliminary study for the project 2012/07/E/NZ9/00194 from The National Science Centre. We thank Dr. Marc Goebel, the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University and two anonymous reviewers for discussions and valuable comments on the manuscript, and the Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, for access to their poplar experimental field site.

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Bagniewska-Zadworna, A., Stelmasik, A. & Minicka, J. From birth to death — Populus trichocarpa fibrous roots functional anatomy. Biol Plant 58, 551–560 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-014-0433-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-014-0433-6

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