ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Biotechnology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1676435
Oryzalin-Induced Polyploidy in Borago officinalis Reveals Cell-Wall Remodelling via Immunofluorescence Microscopy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia
- 2Uniwersytet Slaski w Katowicach Instytut Biologii Biotechnologii i Ochrony Srodowiska, Katowice, Poland
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Artificial polyploidisation represents a powerful biotechnology tool for improvement morphological and physiological traits in medicinal plants. In this study, we induced tetraploidy in Borago officinalis L. through in vitro oryzalin treatment. Flow cytometry confirmed the establishment of both mixoploid and stable tetraploid sub-clones. Selected tetraploid lines were evaluated for their morphological, anatomical, and cellular properties. Compared to diploids, tetraploids exhibited thicker, darker green leaves with increased trichome density and a distinct growth habit. Microscopic analysis revealed significantly enlarged stomata with lower density, expanded vascular tissues, and altered mesophyll structure. Immunofluorescence labelling of pectic epitopes (homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan I) demonstrated distinct patterns of cell wall remodelling in tetraploid tissues. These results provide new insights into the structural and histochemical consequences of whole-genome duplication and demonstrate the potential of chemically induced polyploidy as a tool for enhancing the agronomic and pharmaceutical traits of B. officinalis. This work contributes to our understanding of genome-dosage effects on tissue architecture and offers a platform for future applications in plant metabolic engineering and molecular pharming. Key message: Artificially induced tetraploidy in B. officinalis alters leaf anatomy and stomatal traits, and leads to distinct cell wall remodelling patterns detectable through immunofluorescence microscopy and histological analysis.
Keywords: artificial polyploidisation, medicinal plants, leaf histo-anatomy, pectin immunolabelling, Stomatal traits, Flow Cytometry, plant cell wall dynamics, In vitro mutagenesis
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Šenkyrík, Milewska-Hendel, Král and Ondřej. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Josef Baltazar Šenkyrík, josefbaltazar.senkyrik@upol.cz
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