SINUOUS ORDINARY EPIDERMAL-CELLS - BEHIND SEVERAL PATTERNS OF WAVINESS, A COMMON MORPHOGENETIC MECHANISM

Morphogenesis of sinuous epidermal cells in leaves of the fern Asplenium nidus and the monocotyledonous Cyperus papyrus, petals of the dicotyledonous Begonia lucerna, and in-vitro-grown leaves of the fern Adiantum capillus-veneris is controlled by the local differentiation of their walls. In all these cases wall pads, including radial cellulose microfibrils, are deposited at the junctions of the external periclinal wall with the anticlinal ones. Moreover, in Asplenium nidus, similar wall pads form at the junctions of the internal periclinal wall with the anticlinal ones. The wall pads are connected to anticlinal cellulose microfibril bundles running the whole depth of the anticlinal walls or part of it. This wall differentiation imposes a highly controlled cell wall expansion, a consequence of which is the waviness of the epidermal cell anticlinal walls. The pattern of a all reinforcement varies among different species, resulting in differences in the pattern of waviness. Cortical microtubule arrays mirror the orientated deposition of cellulose microfibrils in the epidermal cells. These findings, derived from plants from different major groups, show a common epidermal cell morphogenetic mechanism depending on radial cellulose microfibrils and cellulose microfibril bundles. The facts that (a) epidermal cell morphogenesis in Adiantum capillus-veneris leaves grown in vitro differs considerably from that of typical leaves and (b) petal epidermal cells in Begonia lucerna are sinuous, while leaf epidermal cells are not, suggest that this mechanism may be affected by epigenetic factors.