Vascular cambium

The vascular cambium (also called main cambium, wood cambium, bifacial cambium; plural cambia) is a plant tissue located between the xylem and the phloem in the stems and roots of vascular plants.[1]:125 It is a cylinder of unspecialized meristem cells that divide to form secondary vascular tissues. It is the source of both secondary xylem growth inwards towards the pith,[2] and secondary phloem growth outwards to the bark. Unlike the xylem and phloem, it does not transport water, minerals or food through the plant.[2]

Vascular cambia are found in dicots and gymnosperms but not monocots, which usually lack secondary growth. A few leaf types also have a vascular cambium.[3] In wood, the vascular cambium is the obvious line separating the bark and wood.[4] For successful grafting, the vascular cambia of the rootstock and scion must be aligned so they can grow together.

Structure and function

The cambium present between primary xylem and primary phloem is called intrafasicular cambium. During secondary growth, cells of meduallary rays, in a line with intrafasicular cambium, become meristematic and form interfascicular cambium. Therefore, the intrafascicular and interfascicular cambia form a ring which separates the primary xylem and primary phloem, and is known as cambium ring. The vascular cambium produces secondary xylem on the inside of the ring, and secondary phloem on the outside, pushing the primary xylem and phloem apart.

The vascular cambium usually consists of two types of cells:

Maintenance of cambial meristem

The vascular cambium is maintained by a network of interacting signal feedback loops. Currently, both hormones and short peptides have been identified as information carriers in these systems. While similar regulation occurs in other meristems of plants, the cambial meristem receives signals from both the xylem and phloem sides for the meristem. Signals received from outside the meristem act to down regulate internal factors, which promotes cell proliferation, and promotes differentiation.[5]

Hormonal regulation

The phytohormones that are involved in the vascular cambial activity are auxins, ethylene, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid and more to be discovered. Each one of these plant hormones are vital for the regulation of the cambial activity and are dependent on their concentration.

Auxin hormones are proven to stimulate mitoses, cell production and regulate interfascicular and fascicular cambium. Applying auxin to the surface of a tree stump allowed decapitated shoots to continue secondary growth. The absence of auxin hormones will have a detrimental effect on a plant. It has been shown that mutants without auxin will exhibit increased spacing between the interfascicular cambiums and reduced growth of the vascular bundles. The mutant plant will therefore experience a decreased in water, nutrients, and photosynthates being transported throughout the plant, eventually leading to death. Auxin also regulates the two types of cell in the vascular cambium, ray and fusiform initials. Regulation of these initials ensures the connection and communication between xylem and phloem is maintained for the translocation of nourishment and sugars are safely being stored as an energy resource. Ethylene levels are high in plants with an active cambial zone and are still currently being studied. Gibberellin stimulates the cambial cell division and also regulates differentiation of the xylem tissues, with no effect on the rate of phloem differentiation. Differentiation is an essential process that changes these tissues into a more specialized type, leading to an important role in maintaining the life form of a plant. In poplar trees, high concentrations of gibberellin is positively correlated to an increase of cambial cell division and an increase of auxin in the cambial stem cells. Gibberellin is also responsible for the expansion of xylem through a signal traveling from the shoot to the root. Cytokinin hormone is known to regulate the rate of the cell division instead of the direction of cell differentiation. A study demonstrated that the mutants are found to have a reduction in stem and root growth but the secondary vascular pattern of the vascular bundles were not affected with a treatment of cytokinin.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Esau, Katherine (1958). Plant Anatomy. Chapman and Hall Ltd.
  2. 1 2 Stern, K.R. (1997). Introductory Plant Biology (7 ed.). McGraw Hill. ISBN 9780697257758.
  3. ↑ Ewers, F.W. (1982). "Secondary growth in needle leaves of Pinus longaeva (bristlecone pine) and other conifers: Quantitative data". American Journal of Botany. 69: 1552–1559. JSTOR 2442909. doi:10.2307/2442909.
  4. ↑ Capon, Brian (2005). Botany for Gardeners (2nd ed.). Portland, OR: Timber Publishing. p. 64. ISBN 0-88192-655-8.
  5. ↑ Etchells, J. Peter; Mishra, Laxmi S.; Kumar, Manoj; Campbell, Liam; Turner, Simon R. (April 2015). "Wood Formation in Trees Is Increased by Manipulating PXY-Regulated Cell Division". Current Biology. 25 (8): 1050–1055. PMC 4406943 Freely accessible. PMID 25866390. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.02.023.
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