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Fig. 4 | Plant Methods

Fig. 4

From: The rapid-tome, a 3D-printed microtome, and an updated hand-sectioning method for high-quality plant sectioning

Fig. 4

The Rapid-Tome can easily section a variety of plant samples. AC Unstained switchgrass internode. A Fresh samples can be sectioned very thin B even with abundant fibers and C and chloroplasts. DF Switchgrass root stained with toluidine blue. D Full transverse section of root with multiple cell types visible. E Higher magnification of the root. F A pair of large vessels within the pith. GL A series of images for transverse comparative anatomy of conifer and angiosperm twigs. GI Crystal violet-stained eastern red cedar (ERC). G Multiple spring and summer growth boundaries are visible. H The central pith (cp), surrounding xylem, and radial medullary rays (m) are visible within the first years of growth. I Summer wood and spring wood denotes the annual ring. JL Crystal violet-stained American sycamore. J Three distinct layers of spring wood are visible. K The central pith of the sycamore twig is larger in comparison to ERC. L Higher magnification of the annual ring boundary and clearly visible is the large difference in xylem vessel diameter between ERC and Sycamore in I and L. MR Analysis of spring vs. summer wood vessel fraction by area with the high-contrast images of cell wall autofluorescence visible with the GFP filter set. M Autofluorescent image. N Binary image. O Summer wood. P Spring wood. Q and R Vessel area identified and measured with “analyze particles” tool in FIJI shows that summer wood is 23% vessels by area and 49% in spring wood. All samples sectioned fresh the day of collection. Fibers (f), chloroplasts (c), xylem vessels (x), aerenchyma (a), endodermis (e), growth rings (gr) resin ducts (r), sclerenchyma (s), secondary phloem (sp), summer wood (suw), spring wood (sw), primary xylem (px), fiber tracheid (ft). Scale bars as labelled

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