Marcin Zych, Małgorzata Stpiczyńskaand Katarzyna Roguz 9. Genetics and Reproductive Biology of Cultivated Potato

Metabolic signalling and the partitioning of resources in plant storage organs

The Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.1017/s0021859699006978 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 133 (3) ◽

pp. 243-249 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

NIGEL G. HALFORD

Keyword(s):

Dry Weight ◽

Wild Relatives ◽

Crop Plants ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Young Plant ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Cultivated Potato ◽

Metabolic Signalling ◽

Storage Organs ◽

Plant Storage

The most important harvested organs of crop plants, such as seeds, tubers and fruits, are often described as assimilate sinks. They play little or no part in the fixation of carbon through the production of sugars through photosynthesis, or in the uptake of nitrogen and sulphur, but import these assimilated resources to support metabolism and to store them in the form of starch, oils and proteins. Wild plants store resources in seeds and tubers to later support an emergent young plant. Cultivated crops are effectively storing resources to provide us with food and many have been bred to accumulate much more than would be required otherwise. For example, approximately 80% of a cultivated potato plant's dry weight is contained in its tubers, ten times the proportion in the tubers of its wild relatives (Inoue & Tanaka 1978). Cultivation and breeding has brought about a shift in the partitioning of carbon and nitrogen assimilate between the organs of the plant.

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Fine structure and possible functions of the hermaphrodite duct of some pulmonate snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda)

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100157887 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 68-69

Author(s):

Alan N. Hodgson

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Fine Structure ◽

Seminal Vesicle ◽

Reproductive Biology ◽

Light Microscope ◽

Light Microscope Level ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Standard Techniques

The hermaphrodite duct of pulmonate snails connects the ovotestis to the fertilization pouch. The duct is typically divided into three zones; aproximal duct which leaves the ovotestis, the middle duct (seminal vesicle) and the distal ovotestis duct. The seminal vesicle forms the major portion of the duct and is thought to store sperm prior to copulation. In addition the duct may also play a role in sperm maturation and degredation. Although the structure of the seminal vesicle has been described for a number of snails at the light microscope level there appear to be only two descriptions of the ultrastructure of this tissue. Clearly if the role of the hermaphrodite duct in the reproductive biology of pulmonatesis to be understood, knowledge of its fine structure is required.Hermaphrodite ducts, both containing and lacking sperm, of species of the terrestrial pulmonate genera Sphincterochila, Levantina, and Helix and the marine pulmonate genus Siphonaria were prepared for transmission electron microscopy by standard techniques.

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