title: Functional utrastructure of Genlisea (Lentibulariaceae) digestive hairs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Digestive structures of carnivorous plants produce external digestive enzymes, and play the main role in absorption. In Lentibulariaceae, the ultrastructure of digestive hairs has been examined in some detail in Pinguicula and Utricularia, but the sessile digestive hairs of Genlisea have received very little attention so far. The aim of this study was to fill this gap by expanding their morphological, anatomical and histochemical characterization.
  
  
  METHODS
  Several imaging techniques were used, including light, confocal and electron microscopy, to reveal the structure and function of the secretory hairs of Genlisea traps. This report demonstrates the application of cryo-SEM for fast imaging of whole, physically fixed plant secretory structures.
  The concentration of digestive hairs along vascular bundles in subgenus Genlisea is a primitive feature, indicating its basal position within the genus. Digestive hairs of Genlisea consist of three compartments with different ultrastructure and function. In subgenus Tayloria the terminal hair cells are transfer cells, but not in species of subgenus Genlisea. A digestive pool of viscous fluid occurs in Genlisea traps. In spite of their similar architecture, the digestive-absorptive hairs of Lentibulariaceae feature differences in morphology and ultrastructure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Jagiellonian University, 52 Grodzka st., 31-044 Cracow, Poland. bartek78pl@poczta.onet.pl
authors.forename: Bartosz Jan
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Płachno
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kozieradzka-Kiszkurno
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Swiatek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy; D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning