Image analysis of maize root caps - Estimating cell numbers from 2-D longitudinal sections

被引:13
作者
Bengough, AG [1 ]
Iijima, M
Barlow, PW
机构
[1] Scottish Crop Res Inst, Soil Plant Dynam Unit, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland
[2] Nagoya Univ, Grad Sch Bioagr Sci, Chikusa Ku, Nagoya, Aichi 4648601, Japan
[3] Univ Bristol, Long Ashton Res Stn, Dept Agr Sci, IACR Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9AF, Avon, England
基金
英国生物技术与生命科学研究理事会;
关键词
anatomy; border cells; cell production; image analysis; maize; rhizosphere; root cap; sloughing; stereology; Zea mays L;
D O I
10.1006/anbo.2001.1392
中图分类号
Q94 [植物学];
学科分类号
071001 ;
摘要
The cap of the primary root of maize produces several thousand border cells that are shed from the outside of the cap each day. Border cell production is important in the penetration of soil by roots, and in influencing the activity of both beneficial and pathogenic organisms in the rhizosphere. To improve understanding of the dynamics of border cell production, it is desirable to know the number of cells in different parts of the root cap. An image analysis procedure was used to quantify cell dimensions and locations in the median longitudinal section of maize (Zea mays L.) root caps. Calculations based on root symmetry were then used to estimate the number of cells in 3-dimensions. Our estimation procedure was tested initially using regular arrays of identical square and hexagonal shapes to represent cells. It was then tested using two different tissues showing analogous arrays: a transverse section through the maize root cap junction, and a transverse section through a barley root. Good linear correlations were obtained between the number of cells estimated and the number of cells actually counted in the microscope. The numbers of cells in the whole maize root cap (8870 +/- 390) were then estimated from longitudinal sections. These numbers of cap cells agreed with values that had been estimated for maize by other methods. In the first tier of the cap meristem, ten-times more meristematic cells were located in the cap flanks (> 500 cells) than were present in the columella portion. Similarly, only 7% of cells in the outermost layer of the root were associated with the columella region of the cap, a fraction which compared well with previous measurements of sloughed cells extracted from rhizosphere sand. This present technique can be applied to estimate the numbers of cells in any cylindrically symmetrical tissue from two-dimensional sections. (C) 2001 Annals of Botany Company.
引用
收藏
页码:693 / 698
页数:6
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