THE FUNCTION OF LEAF MERISTEMATIC CELLS IN COTINUS COGGYGRIA SCOP.
A. K. Butorina, E. V. Bogdanova
Department of Genetics, Selection and Evolutionary Theory, Voronezh State University, Russia;
e-mail: bsgen185@main.vsu.ru
Proliferation of leaf meristem cells and formation of multicellular glands and unicellular hairs in Cotinus coggygria
were studied under conditions of complex stressors exerting influence on this species when introduced and grown in such a big industrial
city as Voronezh. Variability in the length of dividing meristematic cells (from 7.5 to 30.0 μm) was detected. The chromosome number was
calculated, and the mean length of chromosomes (1 μm) was determined. The modal chromosome number in the leaf meristem cells in
2 n = 30. However, along with these cells, aneuploid (2.7 %), uninucleate polypoid (1.9 %), binuclear (10 %), and polynuclear (3 %) cells
were also observed. The length of trichomes iniciales, formed in the epidermis, was near 40 μm. These have a large nucleus and may
have, presumably, a polyploid nature. It is assumed that a heterogeneous meristematic cell population, at the expense of selection into
such a population, is able to provide an optimum combination of cells with different level ploidy and aneuploidy for more effective
realization of gene function in the extremal environment conditions.
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