The cellular architecture of wheat leaves supports a conservation of spatial patterning of the mesophyll in grasses

Abstract

Classical botany identifies a clear adaxial/abaxial (palisade/spongy) patterning of the mesophyll in leaves of eudicots but suggest that there is no comparable overt pattern within the mesophyll of most grasses. In this paper, we report on an analysis of leaves from across ploidy levels of Triticum species which reveals a patterning of mesophyll cellular architecture that has been maintained during the evolution/selection of wheat. Taking a quantitative approach to the analysis of 2D and 3D images, we show that upper and lower mesophyll cells are larger than the middle mesophyll cells, which are themselves more lobed than the mesophyll cells adjoining the upper and lower epidermis. This mesophyll patterning is superimposed on a gradual increase of cell size with ploidy, suggesting that it is evolutionarily ancient. Taken in the context of data revealing patterning of the rice mesophyll, our data support the hypothesis that grass leaves do display distinct cellular patterning across the adaxial/abaxial axis, the functional significance of which awaits full elucidation.