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FIB-SEM: An Additional Technique for Investigating Internal Structure of Pollen Walls

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2013

Alisoun House  and
Kevin Balkwill
Alisoun House*
Affiliation:
School of Animal Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, P.O. WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
Kevin Balkwill
Affiliation:
School of Animal Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, P.O. WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: alisoun.house@students.wits.ac.za
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Abstract

Pollen grain morphology has been widely used in the classification of the Acanthaceae, where external pollen wall features have proved useful in determining relationships between taxa. Although detailed information has been accumulated using light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques, internal pollen wall features lack investigation and the techniques are cumbersome. A new technique involving precise cross sectioning or slicing of pollen grains at a selected position for examining wall ultrastructure, using a focused ion beam-scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM), has been explored and promising results have been obtained. The FIB-SEM offers a good technique for reliable, high resolution, three-dimensional (3D) viewing of the internal structure of the pollen grain wall.

Keywords

Acanthaceaeexinefocused ion beam-scanning electron microscopeFIB-SEMpalynologypollen wall ultrastructure
Type
Biomedical and Biological Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 19 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 1535 - 1541
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2013 

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References

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