Studies of Vegetative Compatibility-Incompatibility in Higher Plants. I. A Structural Study of a Compatible Autograft in Sedum telephoides (Crassulaceae)

Abstract

Initial adherence of the cut surfaces occurred by 24 hr after grafting and was correlated both with a pronounced dictyosome activity along the graft interface and with callus proliferation in both the stock and scion. A necrotic layer of one or two collapsed cells in thickness initially extended as a continuous barrier between the stock and scion, but the layer was fragmented by 2–3 days after grafting as the callus proliferation continued. Graft incision also induced a mild senescence in cells at the graft interface characterized by a reduced staining intensity of the cytoplasm, replacement of the large primary vacuole by numerous smaller vacuoles, and the occurrence of flocculent material throughout the cytoplasm. Starch accumulated during the first day after grafting but disappeared by 2–3 days after grafting. The cellular senescence never proceeded beyond an early, nonlethal stage, and cells along the graft interface completely recovered by 3 wk after grafting. Procambial differentiation occurred across the callus bridge by 10 days after grafting, and mature vascular continuity was established by 14 days. The results of this study are discussed relative to cellular recognition phenomena and to proposed mechanisms for plant graft compatibility-incompatibility.