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Water and Solute Permeability of Plant Cuticles: Measurement and ...

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1.4 Fine Structure <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cuticles</strong> 25<br />

Fig. 1.10 Transverse sections <strong>of</strong> Clivia polymer matrix treated with BF3–MeOH. Sections were<br />

stained with lead citrate. (Taken from Schmidt <strong>and</strong> Schönherr 1982)<br />

The presence <strong>of</strong> cutan in the ECL is clearly seen in a specimen extracted with<br />

chlor<strong>of</strong>orm <strong>and</strong> depolymerised with BF3–MeOH (Fig. 1.10). This treatment eliminated<br />

ester cutin <strong>and</strong> left cutan <strong>and</strong> the polar polymers behind. These polar polymers<br />

strongly reacted with lead citrate applied as section stain. Cutan did not exhibit any<br />

fine structure, <strong>and</strong> it is not known if this is due to failure <strong>of</strong> uranyl acetate to penetrate<br />

cutan <strong>and</strong>/or the embedding medium.<br />

Periclinal penetration <strong>of</strong> KMnO4 during en block staining was considerably<br />

faster in electron dense lamellae than in electron-lucent lamellae <strong>of</strong> Agave <strong>and</strong><br />

Clivia cuticles (Wattendorff <strong>and</strong> Holloway 1984), but the contribution <strong>of</strong> the lamellated<br />

CP to water or solute permeability <strong>of</strong> CM has not been studied <strong>and</strong> is not<br />

known. Schmidt et al. (1981) studied water permeability <strong>of</strong> isolated Clivia CM <strong>and</strong><br />

MX. <strong>Water</strong> permeability <strong>of</strong> young <strong>and</strong> mature CM was the same, but extracting

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