Ultrastructure of Haustorial Cells of Cuscuta australis R. Brown

실새삼(Cuscuta australis R. Brown) 흡기세포(吸器細胞)의 미세구조(微細構造)

Ultrastructures of the large and elongated cells (idioblasts) in the haustorium of a parasitic angiosperm, Cuscuta australis R. Brown growing on the host plant, Trifolium repens L. were investigated by the electron microscopy. The idioblasts were characterized by the presence of a large nucleus, small vacuoles, and dense cytoplasm including a number of various cell organelles such as ribosome, rough endoplasmic reticulum(r-ER), mitochondrion, dictyosome, proplastid, multilamellar structure(MLS), microfilament bundle(MFB), and cytosegresome. Therefore, it is suggested that the idioblasts are metabolical1y very active. Particularly, MLS, MFB, and cytosegresome observed in this study did not appear in the haustorial cells of the other parasitic angiosperms. MLS was transformed into vacuole and also incorporated with cell wall. MFB composed of microfilaments, about each 7.5 nm in diameter, was observed in nucleus and also cytoplasm. Some types of MFB were distinguished on the basis of arrangement of microfilaments. A part of cytoplasm sequestered by stacked cisternae of smooth ER(s-ER), cytosegresome, was altered into a vacuole which was formed by digestion of the sequestered cytoplasm and of cisternae of s-ER. Cell organelles such as MLS, MFB, and cytosegresome were discussed in relation to the metabolic control of the idioblasts.