Abstract
Main conclusion
Anastomosed laticifers with intrusive growth produce latex containing methyl comate and betulin with economic and ecological value in arid environments. Climatic factors influence laticifer development in the apical meristem and vascular cambium.
Abstract
Latex is a complex emulsion with high medicinal as well as ecological value related to plant survival. Marsdenia zehntneri is a shrubby plant that grows on limestone outcrops in the semiarid regions of Brazil. We sought to characterize the ontogenesis of the laticifers of this species and to relate that process to climatic seasonality and phenology through anatomical, ultrastructural, and micro-morphometric evaluations of the apical meristem and vascular cambium. The histochemistry of the secretory structure was investigated and the chemical composition of the latex was analyzed. Phenological assessments were performed by monitoring phenological events for 1 year. The laticifers network of M. zehntneri permeates the entire primary and secondary body of the plant, providing a wide distribution system of defensive compounds. Its laticifers, of a distinct mixed type (anastomosed, with intrusive growth), are numerous and voluminous in the apical meristem but scarce and minute in the secondary phloem. Latex secretion involves the participation of oleoplasts, polysomes, and dictyosomes. Methyl 2,3-dihydroxy-ursan-23-oate, methyl 3-hydroxy-ursan-23-oate, and betulin are encountered in high proportions in the latex and have ecological and medicinal functions. The development of primary laticifers is related to the resumption of apical meristem activity with increasing day length at the end of the austral winter. The development of secondary laticifers is related to high summer temperatures and rainfall that favor vascular cambium activity. The wide distribution of laticifers, their seasonal pattern of secretion, and their latex composition contribute to the adaptation of M. zehntneri to its natural environment.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais—FAPEMIG (CRA-PPM-00544-18) and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq (423340/2018-2, 441440/2016-9 and 441583/2020-2—Long-term Ecological Research Network—PELD-VERE). The authors thank to CNPq for the Research Productivity Grants awarded to MO Mercadante-Simões, (303806/2019-2) and LM Ribeiro (308337/2021-2); the Microscopy Center, Federal University of Minas Gerais, for ultrastructural analyses; the High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Federal University of Minas Gerais for the chemical analyses; and Alysson Rocha Pereira and Rúbia Santos Fonseca for their support during the fieldwork.
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Marques, H.K.O., Figueiredo, M.G.F., de Souza Pio, W.S. et al. Laticifer ontogenesis and the chemical constituents of Marsdenia zehntneri (Apocynaceae) latex in a semiarid environment. Planta 257, 19 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-022-04050-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-022-04050-7