Volume: 3, 2024
3rd International PhD Student’s Conference at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland:
ENVIRONMENT – PLANT – ANIMAL – PRODUCT
Abstract number: P005
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24326/ICDSUPL3.P005
Published online: 24 April 2024
ICDSUPL, 3, P005 (2024)
Mechanisms preventing the loss of meristematic potential in the horse-chestnut periderm
Anna Brzostowska1*, Elżbieta Myśkow1, Edyta M. Gola1
1 Department of Plant Developmental Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Wroclaw, Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wroclaw, Poland
* Corresponding author: anna.brzostowska@uwr.edu.pl
Abstract
Periderm, the secondary covering tissue, plays a crucial role in trees, protecting internal tissues against biotic and abiotic stresses. The periderm originates by divisions of the phellogen, the secondary lateral meristem, whose derivatives differentiate outwardly as phellem (cork) cells with thick suberized cell walls, and inwardly as the phelloderm having parenchymatous characteristics. After a few years of activity, the first phellogen is replaced by a new one, initiated in deeper layers of the stem, and together with externally laying tissues forming the complex outer bark of the tree (rhytidome). Despite the periderm importance, its development and seasonal changes are only rarely studied. To decipher the dynamics of periderm functioning, the material collected from young branches and old trunks of horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) in four vegetative seasons was analyzed. The structure of the periderm and the cell wall composition were studied on series of microscopic sections using specific staining reactions and immunodetection technique. Based on performed analyses, six developmental stages were distinguished, including the phellogen initiation and its derivatives differentiation. In addition, specific stages showed spatiotemporal changes in the composition of the cell wall. In following years, the period of phellogen activity and number of produced derivatives decreased. Importantly, one-third of phellogen cells differentiated into phellem and lost their meristematic characteristics before the end of the season; to maintain the periderm integrity, new phellogen cells were re-initiated from the phelloderm in the next season. The phellogen restoring occurred also upon the first phellogen initiation, if all periderm cells underwent premature differentiation as phellem. Therefore, the phellogen re-initiation is postulated as a mechanism protecting the undamaged genetic information, in which the phelloderm plays a crucial role.
Keywords: phellogen, phelloderm, phellogen restoration, periderm
How to cite
A. Brzostowska, E. Myśkow, E.M. Gola, 2024. Mechanisms preventing the loss of meristematic potential in the horse-chestnut periderm. In: 3rd International PhD Student’s Conference at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland: Environment – Plant – Animal – Product. https://doi.org/10.24326/ICDSUPL3.P005