| Abstract Detail
Pteridological Section/AFS McMillen, Ryan [1], Renzaglia, Karen S. [2]. Genome size is correlated with length of stomata in seedless land plants. Stomata are minute pores found in all land plants except liverworts. In many studies of seed-bearing plants, stomatal size has been shown to be positively correlated with C-value, or genome size. However, there have been no parallel investigations in seedless plants. In this study we examined stomata in six pteridophytes, four mosses and two hornworts. The length and width of at least 100 guard cells were measured for each plant using light and scanning electron microscopy. Genome sizes were acquired from Kew Botanical Garden’s online database and correlated with the stomatal measurements using linear regression. A strong direct correlation (r = 0.80) was found between genome size and guard cell lengths in these plants. Using these data, genome sizes of Devonian and Carboniferous fossils were approximated from stomatal lengths. These estimates allow us to speculate on changes in C-value during the hundreds millions of years that green plants evolved on earth.
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1 - Southern Illinois University, Plant Biology Department, Carbondale, IL, 62901-6509, USA
2 - Southern Illinois University, Department of Plant Biology, 1125 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, Illinois, 62901-6509, USA
Keywords:
stomata
genome
Pteridophyte
Bryophyte.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P58009
Abstract ID:1989 |
