Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Double-Staining Method to Detect Pectin in Plant-Fungus Interaction
Published on: February 4, 2022
PIT CONNECTION FORMATION IN THE RED ALGA PSEUDOGLOIOPHLOEA
1Department of Biology, Osborn Memorial Laboratories Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520.
Abstract:
Pit connection formation in the marine red alga Pseudogloiophloea confusa was studied with the electron microscope. The process of formation occurs in 2 stages. First, a septum forms as an annular ingrowth from the lateral walls. Lomasomes are associated with the centripetal accretion of wall material. The completed septum contains a large rimmed aperture, bounded by the continuous plasmalemma, and through which the cytoplasm is continuous from cell to cell. In the second stage, a highly structured plug is formed which completely blocks the aperture. The plug is condensed on flattened vesicles which lie parallel to one another and which traverse the aperture. The mature plug is composed of granules 50-100 A in diameter and surrounded by several dense layers which appear to enclose an 80 A limiting membrane. Once the pit connection is formed, no material is seen to traverse it.
Related Concept Videos
Cell Adhesion in Plants
Pectins are complex heteropolymers mainly composed of negatively-charged α-D-glucopyranosyl uronic acid and some neutral glycosyl residues such as α-L-rhamnopyranose, α-L-arabinofuranose,...
Plasmodesmata
Plasmodesmata
Intercellular junctions are a feature of fungal, plant, and animal cells. However, different types of junctions are found in different kinds of cells. Intercellular junctions found in animal cells include tight junctions, gap junctions, and...
Gap Junctions
Gap Junctions
Contact-dependent Signaling
Gap Junctions
In animal cells, gap junctions are formed...

