Abstract
A living wood fiber (LWF) is one that retains the living protoplast. LWFs store numerous starch grains during the dormant period. In black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), almost all wood fibers in the outer part of the annual ring are LWFs. In the outermost ring, starch is accumulated during the summer, retained in winter, and metabolized during spring. We determined the starch content of LWFs, ray parenchyma, and axial parenchyma using image analysis. More than 70% of the starch grains in the outermost ring were stored in LWFs during winter. After the breakdown of starch in spring, LWFs resulted in cell death. These results indicate that LWFs in black locust function as “single-use” large-capacity starch storage.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Koh Yasue (Shinshu University), Dr. Yoko Watanabe (Hokkaido University), and Dr. Kazuhiko Masaka (Hokkaido Forestry Research Institute) for their help in sample collection.
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Communicated by U. Luettge.
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Yamada, Y., Awano, T., Fujita, M. et al. Living wood fibers act as large-capacity “single-use” starch storage in black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). Trees 25, 607–616 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-010-0537-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-010-0537-3