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Environmental and Stress Physiology

Freezing Stress Response in Woody Tissues Observed Using Low-Temperature Scanning Electron Microscopy and Freeze Substitution Techniques ¹

Center for Plant Environmental Stress Physiology, Department of Horticulture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907

The objective of the current research was to examine the response of woody plant tissues to freezing stress by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Nonsupercooling species red osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera Michx.), weeping willow (Salix babylonica L.), and corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana Koidz. f. tortuosa Rehd.) survived freezing stress as low as –60°C. Cell collapse of ray parenchyma cells of these species was expected but did not occur. It was concluded that ray parenchyma cells of these species do not fit into either the supercooling or extracellular freezing classifications. Tissues from flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.), apple (Malus domestica Borkh. cv "Starking III"), red oak (Quercus rubra L.), scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea Muench.), and red ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh) were confirmed as supercooling species, and did not survive exposures below –40°C. Ray parenchyma cells of these species did not collapse in response to freezing stress, as was expected. Cell collapse along the margins of voids were observed in bark of all seven species. Voids were the result of extracellular ice crystals formed in the bark during exposure to freezing stress. Tissues prepared by freeze substitution techniques were found to be adequately preserved when compared to those prepared by conventional fixation and low temperature SEM techniques. A freezing protocol for imposing freezing stress at temperatures lower than experienced naturally in the area where the study was conducted was developed that produced responses comparable to those observed in specimens collected in the field during natural freezing events.

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