biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 56:301-306, 2012 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-012-0090-6

Plastid division and morphology in the genus Peperomia

M. Ahmadabadi^1,2,*, R. Bock¹

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam-Golm, Germany

² Azarbaijan University of Tarbiat Moallem, Tabriz, Iran

We have investigated several factors determining plastid size and number in Peperomia, a genus in the Piperaceae family whose species naturally display great interspecific variation in chloroplast size and number per cell. Using microscopic techniques, we show that chloroplast size and number are differently regulated in the palisade parenchyma and the spongy parenchyma, suggesting that chloroplast division in these cell types is controlled in different ways. Microscopic studies of iodine-stained root cells revealed a correlation between amyloplast size in root cells and chloroplast size in palisade parenchyma cells. However, despite substantial variation in chloroplast number in leaf mesophyll cells, amyloplast number in root cells was very similar in all species. The results suggest that organelle size and number are regulated in a tissue-specific manner rather than in dependency on the plastid type. We also demonstrate that plastid size determines the size but not the number of starch grains in root amyloplasts.

Keywords: amyloplast; chloroplast; plastid number; plastid size

Subjects: amyloplast; chloroplast; plastid number; plastid size; plastid division; leaf mesophyll; anatomy - leaf; anatomy - root

Received: September 12, 2010; Accepted: March 18, 2011; Published: June 1, 2012Show citation