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Trichome differentiation on leaf primordia of Helianthus annuus (Asteraceae): morphology, gene expression and metabolite profile

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Sunflower trichomes fully develop on embryonic plumula within 3 days after start of germination. Toxic sesquiterpene lactones are produced immediately thereafter thus protecting the apical bud of the seedling against herbivory.

Helianthus annuus harbors non-glandular and two different types of multicellular glandular trichomes, namely the biseriate capitate glandular trichomes and the uniseriate linear glandular trichomes. The development of capitate glandular trichomes is well known from anther tips on sunflower disk florets, but not from leaves and no information is yet available on the development of the linear glandular trichomes. Scanning electron microscopy of sunflower seedlings unravelled that within the first 40 h of seed germination all three types of trichomes started to emerge on primordia of the first true leaves. Within the following 20–30 h trichomes developed from trichoblasts to fully differentiated hairs. Gene expression studies showed that genes involved in the trichome-based sesquiterpene lactone formation were up-regulated between 72 and 96 h after start of germination. Metabolite profiling with HPLC confirmed the synthesis of sesquiterpene lactones which may contribute to protect the germinating seedlings from herbivory. The study has shown that sunflower leaf primordia can serve as a fast and easy to handle model system for the investigation of trichome development in Asteraceae.

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Abbreviations

CGT:

Capitate glandular trichomes

GT:

Glandular trichomes

LGT:

Linear glandular trichomes

NGT:

Non-glandular trichomes

RT:

Room temperature

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank J. Prasifka, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fargo, North Dakota, for helpful suggestions in preparing the manuscript. The technical assistance in capillary electrophoresis by R. Zipper, Institute of Botany, University of Hohenheim, is gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation; project SP292/22-1).

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  1. Institute of Botany, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstraße 30, 70593, Stuttgart, Germany

    Anna-Katharina Aschenbrenner, Evelyn Amrehn, Lisa Bechtel & Otmar Spring

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  1. Anna-Katharina Aschenbrenner
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  2. Evelyn Amrehn
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Correspondence to Otmar Spring.

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Aschenbrenner, AK., Amrehn, E., Bechtel, L. et al. Trichome differentiation on leaf primordia of Helianthus annuus (Asteraceae): morphology, gene expression and metabolite profile. Planta 241, 837–846 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-014-2223-y

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