Strategy of optical path of daylight signal into tissues in cold-season turfgrasses using small, concave silica bodies

Abstract

Plants incorporate inorganic materials (biominerals), such as silica, into their various components. Plants belonging to the order Poales, like rice plants and turfgrasses, show comparatively high rates of silicon accumulation, mainly in the form of silica bodies. This work aims to determine the shapes and roles of these silica bodies by microscopic observation and optical simulation. We have previously found convex silica bodies on the leaves of rice plants and hot-season turfgrasses (adapted to hot-seasons). These silica bodies enabled light reflection and ensured reduction of the photonic density of states, which presumably prevented the leaves from overheating, as suggested by theoretical optical analyses. The silica bodies have been considered to have the functions of reinforcement of the plant body. The present work deals with cold-season turfgrasses, which were found to have markedly different silica bodies, cuboids with a concave top surface. They presumably acted as small windows for introducing light into the tissues, including the vascular bundles in the leaves. The area of the silica bodies was calculated to be about 5% of the total surface area of epidermis, which limits the thermal radiation of the silica bodies. We found that the light signal introduced through the silica bodies diffused in the organs even reaching the vascular bundles, the physiological functions of this phenomena remain as future problems. Light signal in this case is not related with energy which heat the plant but sensing outer circumstances to respond to them.