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Apoplastic and symplastic phloem loading in Quercus robur and Fraxinus excelsior.

ABSTRACT: Whereas most of the research on phloem loading is performed on herbaceous plants, less is known about phloem loading strategies in trees. In this study, the phloem loading mechanisms of Quercus robur and Fraxinus excelsior were analysed. The following features were examined: the minor vein structure, the sugar concentrations in phloem sap by the laser-aphid-stylet technique, the distribution of photoassimilates in the mesophyll cells by non-aqueous fractionation, gradients of sugar concentrations and osmotic pressure, and the expression of sucrose transporters. The minor vein configurations of Q. robur and F. excelsior belong to the open type. Quercus robur contained companion cells in the minor veins whereas F. excelsior showed intermediary cells in addition to ordinary companion cells. The main carbon transport form in Q. robur was sucrose (~1M). In F. excelsior high amounts of raffinose and stachyose were also transported. However, in both tree species, the osmolality of phloem sap was higher than the osmolality of the mesophyll cells. The concentration gradients between phloem sap and the cytoplasm of mesophyll cells for sucrose were 16-fold and 14-fold for Q. robur and F. excelsior, respectively. Independent of the type of translocated sugars, sucrose transporter cDNAs were cloned from both species. The results indicate that phloem loading of sucrose and other metabolites must involve active loading steps in both tree species. Quercus robur seems to be an apoplastic phloem loader while F. excelsior shows indications of being a symplastic or mixed symplastic-apoplastic phloem loader.

SUBMITTER: Oner-Sieben S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3978624 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Apoplastic and symplastic phloem loading in Quercus robur and Fraxinus excelsior.

Oner-Sieben Soner S Lohaus Gertrud G

Journal of experimental botany 20140303 7

Whereas most of the research on phloem loading is performed on herbaceous plants, less is known about phloem loading strategies in trees. In this study, the phloem loading mechanisms of Quercus robur and Fraxinus excelsior were analysed. The following features were examined: the minor vein structure, the sugar concentrations in phloem sap by the laser-aphid-stylet technique, the distribution of photoassimilates in the mesophyll cells by non-aqueous fractionation, gradients of sugar concentration ...[more]

PMID: 24591056

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Project description:BackgroundAsh (Fraxinus spp.) is a dominant tree species throughout urban and forested landscapes of North America (NA). The rapid invasion of NA by emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis), a wood-boring beetle endemic to Eastern Asia, has resulted in the death of millions of ash trees and threatens billions more. Larvae feed primarily on phloem tissue, which girdles and kills the tree. While NA ash species including black (F. nigra), green (F. pennsylvannica) and white (F. americana) are highly susceptible, the Asian species Manchurian ash (F. mandshurica) is resistant to A. planipennis perhaps due to their co-evolutionary history. Little is known about the molecular genetics of ash. Hence, we undertook a functional genomics approach to identify the repertoire of genes expressed in ash phloem.Methodology and principal findingsUsing 454 pyrosequencing we obtained 58,673 high quality ash sequences from pooled phloem samples of green, white, black, blue and Manchurian ash. Intriguingly, 45% of the deduced proteins were not significantly similar to any sequences in the GenBank non-redundant database. KEGG analysis of the ash sequences revealed a high occurrence of defense related genes. Expression analysis of early regulators potentially involved in plant defense (i.e. transcription factors, calcium dependent protein kinases and a lipoxygenase 3) revealed higher mRNA levels in resistant ash compared to susceptible ash species. Lastly, we predicted a total of 1,272 single nucleotide polymorphisms and 980 microsatellite loci, among which seven microsatellite loci showed polymorphism between different ash species.Conclusions and significanceThe current transcriptomic data provide an invaluable resource for understanding the genetic make-up of ash phloem, the target tissue of A. planipennis. These data along with future functional studies could lead to the identification/characterization of defense genes involved in resistance of ash to A. planipennis, and in future ash breeding programs for marker development.

Dataset Information

Apoplastic and symplastic phloem loading in Quercus robur and Fraxinus excelsior.

Publications

Apoplastic and symplastic phloem loading in Quercus robur and Fraxinus excelsior.

Similar Datasets

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