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2Microscopy Center and 3Biology Department, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana 70504-2451
Received for publication June 12, 1998. Accepted for publication November 24, 1998.
| ABSTRACT |
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Key Words: Asteraceae Cirsium cuticle epidermis leaf stomata transpiration
| INTRODUCTION |
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The plant cuticle is a mixture of mostly hydrophobic compounds such as long-chain waxes and polyester cutins (for a review, see Kolattukudy, 1996
). Some carbohydrates such as pectin occur in significant amounts as well and are probably extensions of the cell wall (for a review see Holloway, 1982
). The external cuticle that is commonly known to cover the aerial surfaces of most vascular plants has been extensively researched, and its structure and function have been documented in many plants. In contrast, the internal cuticle on the inner periclinal walls of the epidermis has received much less attention. Its presence, structure, and function have not been well documented. Cuticle extends either partially (Appleby and Davis, 1983
) or fully (Wullschleger and Oosterhuis, 1989
) over the guard cell walls in the stomatal pore, and there is some evidence that it extends farther along the cell walls that form the epidermal boundary of the substomatal cavity (Norris and Bukovac, 1968
). But until now, no clear and detailed description of the internal cuticle has been published.
There are at least two reasons why determining the structure of the internal cuticle is crucial to understanding physiological processes. The first is that an internal cuticle barrier would reduce the amount of water that could evaporate from the epidermal walls into the substomatal cavity. Guard cells would receive information regarding the water status of the leaf through a mesophyllepidermal cell connection. The second reason is that the presence of not one but two cuticular barriers (i.e., internal and external) would pose a greater obstacle to the movement of pathogens or molecules across the epidermis into the plant.
Our observations indicate that a cuticle coats the inner periclinal walls of the epidermal cells that border substomatal cavities. The internal cuticle resembles the external cuticle in that they both retain their structure after incubation in cell-wall-degrading chemicals, appear to be distinct layers when viewed with the transmission electron microscope (TEM), and bind the lipophilic dye, aura-mine O.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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3 x 3 mm were cut from the fresh leaf and vacuum infiltrated with enzyme solution at 32°C. A mixture of 4% (w/v) Onozuka R-10 macerase (Yakult Honsha Co., Japan) plus 4% Onozuka R-10 cellulase was used initially, but using cellulase alone resulted in less debris on the cuticle pieces. In some cases, enzymatically isolated cuticle pieces were extensively rinsed in water and then placed either in 20 mL of chloroform at 30°C for 24 h (with six changes), or in 70% (v/v) sulfuric acid for 5 min. In a few cases leaf pieces were treated with sulfuric acid for periods of up to 2 d.
For scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of nondigested leaves, a conventional double fixation with glutaraldeyhde and osmium tetroxide was used (Pesacreta et al., 1991
). For SEM, isolated cuticle or fixed leaf pieces were washed extensively in water, critical point dried using acetone as an intermediate fluid, sputter coated, and observed with a JEOL 6300. For TEM, isolated cuticle or fixed leaf pieces were dehydrated, embedded in Spurr's resin, sectioned, stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and examined with a Hitachi H-7000. To determine the average thickness of the inner and external cuticle, 20 measurements were taken of each cuticle type. Twenty cells were sampled approximately midway along the length of the wall.
For confocal microscopy, fresh leaf pieces were first placed in a 1:1 mixture of methanol:ether for 6 h at 22°C to remove soluble lipids, rinsed in water, stained for 0.11 h with 0.01% auramine O (Heslop-Harrison, 1977
), and examined with a MRC-600 microscope equipped with a argon laser and a FITC filter cube (Bio-Rad, USA).
Terminology
The terms internal and external cuticle will refer to those portions of the leaf cuticle that border the epidermal walls of the substomatal cavity and the outer surface of the leaf, respectively. The phrase "abaxial internal cuticle" refers to the cuticle of substomatal cavities of the abaxial epidermis.
| RESULTS |
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TEM and fluorescence observations
The external cuticle of nonstomatal epidermal cells was 74 ± 18 nm thick (Fig. 13) and the internal cuticle was 26 ± 4.6 nm thick (Fig. 14). Because of the thinness of the internal cuticle, it was difficult to detect it if the plane of section was oblique to the cuticle, or in poorly stained sections. Where the internal cuticle was obvious, it clearly formed a continuous coating on the wall.
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| DISCUSSION |
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The term internal cuticle has been used by others (for a review of recent work, see Jeffree 1996
), but our report is the first to offer unambiguous data in support of its existence on the epidermal cells. Scott (1948)
reported a hydrophobic "suberized" layer on leaf mesophyll cells of Citrus. Our observations do not support her assertion. Instead, we see a cuticle only on epidermal cells. Wullschleger and Oosterhuis (1989)
described a 150200 nm thick cuticle on the guard cell surfaces of cotton that line the substomatal cavity. Their observation parallels ours for thistle except that they made no mention of an internal cuticle on the other epidermal cells. Norris and Bukovac (1968)
presented evidence that pear leaves had an internal cuticle, but they used light microscopy and admitted the possibility that some cell wall material was present in their preparations. Holloway (1982)
used Clivia leaves for scanning electron microscopy observations of enzyme- or sulfuric acid-digested cuticle. Only outer periclinal and anticlinal epidermal walls of Clivia showed cuticle. The same was found for some Cupressaceae (Oladele, 1983
). The results of Holloway and Oladele could suggest that the inner cuticle of thistle is unique. However, our ongoing research indicates that other species such as Vigna a dicotyledon, and Zea a monocotyledon, also have an internal cuticle. It therefore seems likely that internal cuticle is present in many species.
In our view, the presence of an internal cuticle may have been underappreciated in part because of the widespread reliance on TEM to investigate cuticle. We observed that the thinness and electron transparency of the internal cuticle made it difficult to detect with TEM. Another tool for microscopic study of the cuticle has been epifluorescence, and again, the thinness of the internal cuticle made a clear understanding of its extent problematic unless a lipophilic stain such as auramine O staining was used. However, auramine O staining may not be useful with other species that have high background fluorescence of the wall.
In some respects the internal cuticle is very similar to the external cuticle. Neither is digested by cellulytic enzymes that we used, fragmented by prolonged incubation in chloroform, or dissolved by short incubations in sulfuric acid. However, both are stained by auramine O. These results show that the internal cuticle is not simply a waxy layer and that it has some chemical properties similar to those of the external cuticle.
On the other hand, the internal cuticle is markedly thinner than the external cuticle. Despite the thinness of the internal cuticle, it may be a barrier to evaporation similar to the external cuticle. In many systems the characteristics of waxes determine, to a large extent, cuticular permeance (Haas and Schönherr, 1979
; Geyer and Schönherr, 1990
; Riederer and Schreiber, 1995
; Schreiber and Reiderer, 1996
). Not only the chemistry (hydrophobicity) of the waxy layer but its morphology determines permeance. It seems possible that the difference in thickness that we have observed in thistle is due to a requirement that the external cuticle be resistant to physical abrasion (Kerstiens, 1996
), a role that could be of less importance to the internal cuticle. Thus the internal cuticle could be a specialized layer developed primarily as a barrier to water loss. One could even speculate that the thickness of the internal and external cuticle may be a consequence of the different rates of water fluxes through the inner and outer sides of the epidermis during the period of cuticle deposition.
Given that this report is the first to unambiguously document the existence of an extensive internal cuticle, it seems appropriate to speculate on its possible physiological function. Considerable doubt exists concerning the details of the route by which water moves through the intact leaf on the way to the stomatal pores during transpiration. At one extreme, the inner epidermal walls have been proposed to be a significant source of the water that evaporates from cell walls and enters the substomatal cavity (Meidner, 1975
). Numerous theoretical models showing that the flux of water vapor is greatest near the stomatal pore have supported this hypothesis (Rand, 1977
; Tyree and Yianoulis, 1980
). In contrast, Boyer (1985)
interpreted the data of Farquhar and Raschke (1978)
to mean that "the evaporating sites were deep within the leaf and close to the vascular system." He also pointed out that the earlier models of water flow did not consider the possible effect of the internal cuticle on evaporation. Our data showing that the internal cuticle is in many ways similar to the external cuticle do not support a role for the inner periclinal epidermal wall as a major evaporative site within the substomatal cavity. However, to date no data exist concerning the permeability of the internal cuticle.
Because epidermal cells secrete cuticular material on their anticlinal and periclinal walls, but not where their walls adjoin the mesophyll, it appears that the noncuticularized region of the wall may function as an essential region for the transmission of information regarding the water potential of the leaf. In species with large islands of epidermal cells covered by the internal cuticle, incoming information might take longer to arrive at the guard cells in the center of each island. As we broaden our examinations of other species, we intend to look for instances of extreme stomatal isolation. As the size of each island increases, the asynchrony of stomatal function within each island may increase as well.
| FOOTNOTES |
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| LITERATURE CITED |
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Boyer, J. S. 1985 Water transport. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 36: 473516.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
Farquhar, G. D., and K. Raschke. 1978 On the resistance to transpiration of the sites of evaporation within the leaf. Plant Physiology 61: 10001005.
Geyer, U., and J. Schönherr. 1990 The effect of the environment on the permeability and composition of Citrus leaf cuticles. Planta 180: 147153.[Web of Science]
Haas K., and J. Schönherr. 1979 Composition of soluble cuticular lipids and water permeability of cuticular membranes from Citrus leaves. Planta 146: 399403.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
Hasenstein, K. H., T. C. Pesacreta, and V. I. Sullivan. 1993 Thigmonasticity of thistle staminal filaments. II Mechano-elastic properties. Planta 190: 5864.
Heslop-Harrison, Y. 1977 The pollen-stigma interaction: pollen tube interaction in Crocus. Annals of Botany 41: 913922.
Holloway, P. J. 1982 Structure and histochemistry of plant cuticular membranes: an overview. In D. F. Cutler, K. L. Alvin, and C. E. Price [eds.], The plant cuticle, 132. Academic Press, London.
Jeffree, C. E. 1996 Structure and ontogeny of plant cuticles. In G. Kersteins, [ed.], Plant cuticles, an integrated and functional approach, 3382. Bios Scientific Publishers, Oxford.
Kerstiens, G. 1996 Signaling across the divide: a wider perspective of cuticular structure-function relationships. Trends in Plant Science 1: 125129.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
Kolattukudy, P. E. 1996 Biosynthetic pathways of cutin and waxes, and their sensitivity of environmental stresses. In G. Kersteins [ed.], Plant cuticles, an integrated and functional approach, 83108. Bios Scientific Publishers, Oxford.
Meidner, H. 1975 Water supply, evaporation and vapour diffusion in leaves. Journal of Experimental Botany 26: 666673.
Norris, R. F., and M. J. Bukovac. 1968 Structure of pear leaf cuticle with special reference to cuticular penetration. American Journal of Botany 55: 975983.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
Oladele, F. A. 1983 Inner surface sculpture patterns of cuticles in Cupressaceae. Canadian Journal of Botany 61: 12221231.[CrossRef]
Pesacreta, T. C., V. I. Sullivan, and K. H. Hasenstein. 1993 The connective base of Cirsium horridulum (Asteraceae): description and comparison with the viscoelastic filament. American Journal of Botany 80: 411418.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
, , , and J. M. Durand. 1991 Thigmonasticity of thistle staminal filaments: I. Involvement of a contractile cuticle. Protoplasma 163: 174180.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
Rand, H. H. 1977 Gaseous diffusion in the leaf interior. Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineering 20: 701704.
Riederer, M., and L. Schreiber. 1995 Waxesthe transport barriers of plant cuticles. In R. J. Hamilton [ed.], Waxes: chemistry, molecular biology and functions, 130156. Oily Press, Dundee.
Schreiber, L., and M. Riederer. 1996 Determination of diffusion coefficients of octadecanoic acid in isolated cuticular waxes and their relationship to cuticular water permeabilities. Plant, Cell and Environment 19: 1075.[CrossRef]
Scott, F. M. 1948 Internal suberization of plant tissues. Science 108: 654655.
Tyree, M. T., and P. Yianoulis. 1980 The site of water evaporation from substomatal cavities, liquid path resistances and hydroactive stomatal closure. Annals of Botany 46: 175193.
Wullschleger, S. D., and D. M. Oosterhuis. 1989 The occurrence of an internal cuticle in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) leaf stomates. Environmental and Experimental Botany 29: 229235.
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