Abstract
The inflorescence stem of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) is an excellent model system to investigate plant vascular tissue patterning and development. Plant vasculature is a complex conducting tissue arranged in strands called vascular bundles, formed by xylem (tissue that carries water) and phloem (tissue that carries photosynthates and signaling molecules). Xylem and phloem are originated from cell division of the meristematic cells of the vascular cambium. In Arabidopsis the flowering stem elongates about three weeks after germination. At this stage it is possible to visualize defects in its development and morphology. Here we describe a protocol to embed in plastic (resin) stem segments either freshly dissected from living plants or previously assayed for β-glucuronidase. This protocol provides an excellent cellular morphology ideal to visualize stem cell types including those of vascular bundles using high-resolution light microscopy.
Keywords: Arabidopsis, Resin sections, Stem, Vascular tissue phenotype, Plastic sections
Materials and Reagents
Equipment
Procedure
Notes
Recipes
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (BIO2011-25687). This protocol was adapted from Giménez et al. (2001) and Chevalier et al. (2014). We thank Inés Poveda for photographic work.
References
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