Flavonoids are considered to be located predominantly in the vacuoles of epidermal cells and in the cuticular wax of terrestrial plants. However, recent reports have suggested that flavonoids may also reside elsewhere in the cells of green leaves. In the present study of lisianthus flower petals, it is demonstrated that ca. 30% of the whole petal flavonol glycosides are located in the cell wall. These flavonol glycosides are distinguished from the vacuolar glycosides in that they lack acylation. Evidence from light and confocal microscopy studies is corroborated by HPLC analyses of isolated protoplasts and cell wall digests, these having been produced by enzymic treatment of epidermal peels. This is the first report of the occurrence of flavonoids in petal cell walls, and it describes novel methodology for such studies.
Eustoma grandiflorum; lisianthus; petals; cell wall flavonoids; CLSM; HPLC
NCBI PubMed ID: 10975502Publication DOI: 10.1016/s0031-9422(00)00180-1Journal NLM ID: 0151434Publisher: Elsevier
Correspondence: k.markham@irl.cri.nz
Institutions: NZ Institute of Industrial Research and Development, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Methods: HPLC, UV, extraction, microscopy
Found