On the Role of Chloroplasts in the Polymerization of Tannins in Tracheophyta: A Monograph

Abstract

Proanthocyanidins are formed in the chlorophyllous organs of Tracheophyta from a redifferentiation of chloroplasts involving the thylakoidal membrane and lumen. With the purpose to help researchers of concerned disciplines to identify such chloroplasts, we described herein the morphologies of functional and redifferentiating chloroplasts in various members of Tracheophyta. The most obvious sign of redifferentiation is a tremendous swelling of the chloroplast which turns obese. De novo genesis of osmiophilic materials is also characteristic, either as single dots attached to the inner face of the swollen thylakoidal membrane which will yield the tannosomes, or as pearl necklace-shaped structures protruding into the lumen; this last formation can be viewed as a giant tannosome forming finally stromal chlorotannic accretions. Whatever their mode of formation is, tannosomes are expulsed from the chloroplast as shuttles.