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Ultrastructure of the innermost surface of differentiating normal and compression wood tracheids as revealed by field emission scanning electron microscopy

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Abstract

The ultrastructure of the innermost surface of Cryptomeria japonica differentiating normal wood (NW) and compression wood (CW) was comparatively investigated by field emission electron microscopy (FE-SEM) combined with enzymatic degradation of hemicelluloses. Cellulose microfibril (CMF) bundles were readily observed in NW tracheids in the early stage of secondary cell wall formation, but not in CW tracheids because of the heavy accumulation of amorphous materials composed mainly of galactans and lignin. This result suggests that the ultrastructural deposition of cell wall components in the tracheid cell wall differ between NW and CW from the early stage of secondary cell wall formation. Delignified NW and CW tracheids showed similar structural changes during differentiating stages after xylanase or β-mannanase treatment, whereas they exhibited clear differences in ultrastructure in mature stages. Although thin CMF bundles were exposed in both delignified mature NW and CW tracheids by xylanase treatment, ultrastructural changes following β-mannanase treatment were only observed in CW tracheids. CW tracheids also showed different degradation patterns between xylanase and β-mannanase. CMF bundles showed a smooth surface in delignified mature CW tracheids treated with xylanase, whereas they had an uneven surface in delignified mature CW tracheids treated with β-mannanase, indicating that the uneven surface of CMF bundles was related to xylans. The present results suggest that ultrastructural deposition and organization of lignin and hemicelluloses in CW tracheids may differ from those of NW tracheids.

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Abbreviations

CMF:

Cellulose microfibril

CW:

Compression wood

NW:

Normal wood

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Acknowledgments

Jong Sik Kim is grateful for the Research Fellowship for Young Scientists provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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  1. Jong Sik Kim

    Present address: Wood Science, Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7008, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Tree Cell Biology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Jong Sik Kim, Tatsuya Awano, Arata Yoshinaga & Keiji Takabe

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  1. Jong Sik Kim
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  2. Tatsuya Awano
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Correspondence to Jong Sik Kim.

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Kim, J.S., Awano, T., Yoshinaga, A. et al. Ultrastructure of the innermost surface of differentiating normal and compression wood tracheids as revealed by field emission scanning electron microscopy. Planta 235, 1209–1219 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-011-1569-7

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