Effects of Root Restriction on Ultrastructure of Phloem Tissues in Grape Berry

Abstract

In this study, the ultrastructure of phloem and its surrounding parenchyma cells in the developing grape berry produced under root restriction or without (control) was for the first time systematically investigated through transmission electron microscopy during the entire developmental process of the berry. The results showed that root restriction increased the number of plasmodesmata between sieve elements (SE) and companion cells (CC) and between the SE/CC complex and phloem parenchyma cells. Sieve elements in fruit produced under root restriction were smaller in size than those from the control treatment, but CC were bigger than in the control treatment. During the first rapid growth phase of the grape berry, there was denser cytoplasm in the CC produced under root restriction having more abundant mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, multivesicular bodies, vesicles, and plastids than in control fruit. During the second rapid growth phase of the grape berry, CC under root restriction showed more serious plasmolysis. Cytoplasmic contents such as vesicles were fused into the vacuole of which the tonoplast nearly disappeared in the phloem parenchyma cells, and cytoplasmic contents in fruit cells produced under root restriction became denser than the control treatment. These results demonstrated that grape berry adapted to the root restriction stress through ultrastructure variation of the phloem, and this variation explained the increase of photosynthate accumulation in the grape berry observed under root restriction.