Ultrastructural characterization of cell types in root tips of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Some ultrastructural characteristics of cell types in barley root tip and root cap were recorded and compared with the aim to identify these cells by electron microscopy, even if positional information is limited in the ultrathin section. Root cap and root body initials could be distinguished according to the type of proplastids. Cap and apical cells also differed at the level of dictyosomes and the relative quantity of the dense substance in the enlarging vacuoles. The maturity of cap cells could be judged from the degree of vacuolization and the size of starch grains (statoliths) in the plastids.