Authors: Milan Soukup Michal Martinka Marek Cigáň Frederika Ravaszová Alexander Lux
Publish Date: 2014/09/28
Volume: 240, Issue: 6, Pages: 1365-1372
Abstract
Silica phytoliths are microscopic structures of amorphous hydrated silica SiO2·nH2O formed by specialized plant cells Besides their biological roles physical chemical and structural properties of biogenic silica offer a wide spectrum of applications in many fields of industry and technology Therefore processes involved in their formation recently become a very interesting topic to study However optical transparency and microscopic sizes of silica phytoliths do not allow their visualization and localization by classical light microscopy methods Their observation thus requires phytolith isolation technically difficult or lengthy sample preparation procedures or a work with toxic chemicals In this paper we are proposing a novel method for visualization of silica phytoliths in Sorghum bicolor root endodermal cells by fluorescence microscopy using alkali mounting solution pH 12 This method offers an easy and quick preparation of the samples and high contrast imaging Based on our results we can assume that the proposed fluorescent method for silica phytolith investigation allows observation of multiple samples in relatively short time period and thus might be applicable also for highthroughput screenings Using this method we found out that after a 3day cultivation of sorghum plants the minimal needed concentration of sodium silicate limiting the formation of silica phytoliths in the root endodermis was 25 µmol dm−3 The positive correlation of sodium silicate concentration in the substrate with the phytolith diameter was also observed
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