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KMID : 0381920090390020073
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Korean Journal of Microscopy
2009 Volume.39 No. 2 p.73 ~ p.80
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A Survey of Plastid Crystals and Microtubules in Flowering Plants
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Abstract
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The plastid inclusion has long been known to exist in leaves of numerous plant species, especially in those of flowering plants. Among the inclusions, crystalline bodies are the most frequently distinguished structures of the foliar plastids, however, microtubules and phytoferritins are also reported occasionally. The crystalline inclusions vary in shape, and are located either in the stroma or within intrathylakoidal spaces, whereas microtubules and phytoferritins are more uniform in shape and are formed in the stroma. In crystalline structures, the composing elements exhibit a lattice pattern and/or paralleled tubules that are either bounded by membranes or exist without membrane enclosing. Other types of inclusions have not been shown to be enclosed by any membranous structures. According to the current survey, the plastid inclusion, with the exception of phytoferritins, has been shown to exhibit a crystalline or tubular pattern, and has been reported in more than 56 species of various families. Their occurrence is not restricted to any photosynthetic pathway, but is found to be randomly distributed among C-3, C-4 and CAM species, without phylogenetic relationships. The progress in plastid inclusion research reveals more information about the function and complexity, but the need for characterizing the 3-D structure of the crystalline inclusions also has been acknowledged in previous studies. A 3-D characterization would utilize tilting and tomography of serial sections with appropriate image processing that would provide valuable information on the sub-structures of the crystalline inclusions. In fact, recent studies performed on 3-D reconstruction of the plastid inclusions revealed important information about their comprising elements. In this article, the crystals and microtubules that have been reported in various types of plastids have been reviewed, with special consideration given to their possible sub-cellular function within the plastids.
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KEYWORD
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Crystals, Flowering plants, Microtubules, Plastid inclusions
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