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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Studies on the Phloem Sealing Mechanism in Ricinus Fruit Stalks

J Kallarackal and JA Milburn

Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 10(6) 561 - 568
Published: 1983

Abstract

Fruit stalks of R. communis were made to exude phloem sap by repeated slicing at intervals of a few minutes. Samples 1 mm thick from the fruit stalks were fixed for electron microscopy. Samples were also fixed and processed for electron microscopy from previously intact (non-exuding) fruit stalks. Examination of the sieve tubes from these two different samples showed predominantly open sieve-plate pores in the exuding fruit stalk. The sieve plates of the non-exuding fruit stalk showed occlusion of the sieve-plate pores by P-protein. The starch grains from the broken plastids also had characteristic distributions. The implications of these observations are discussed in relation to comprehending the mechanism by which sieve-plate pores become choked, and so sealing the sieve-tube system as a result of injury.

https://doi.org/10.1071/PP9830561

© CSIRO 1983

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