Morphology of laticifer system in vegetative organs of nettles (Urticaceae)

• Grant number: 23/02013-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Morphology
• Principal Investigator: Simone de Pádua Teixeira
• Grantee: Márcio Hideo Akiyoshi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Laticifers are secretory structures very well known for the economic importance of latex, which is produced and stored in these structures. They can be composed by a single cell or multiple cells connected and they occur in, approximately, 10% of the angiosperms. Latex is defined as a suspension or emulsion of various small particles in a liquid. Urticaceae, from Rosales order, can be a interesting model for laticifers studies, since its members exhibit a more transparent or yellowish and less viscous latex. Previous studies showed that laticifers were restricted to the bark in this family. However, recently, our working team has shown that laticifers also occur in leaves and floral organs. It was also verified variations in presence/absence of laticifer ramifications between the studied species. Therefore, this project aims to study the morphology and origin of laticifers in vegetative organs of seven species from Urticaceae family and the nature of the chemical compounds of latex in situ. For that, samples of vegetative gems, leaves, stems and roots of Boehmeria cylindrica, Myriocarpa stipitata, Phenax sonnerattii, Pilea cadierei, Parietaria debilis, Laportea aestuans and Urtica dioica will be fixed and processed for anatomic and histochemical analyses. The data will be compared with others already obtained by our working team for floral organs of species from Urticaceae family and other families from Urticoide clade (Cannabaceae, Moraceae and Ulmaceae), in which the laticifer system was characterized as articulated ramified or articulated non-ramified.