Plant and Animal Cells

Trichome cell

A scanning electron microscope view of a hair on the surface of an Arabidopsis leaf. Each microscopic hair is a specialized cell called trichome.

Trichome cells on a geranium leaf. Plants produce a wide variety of compounds that can be used as medicines, flavours, and ingredients for consumer goods. Many of these substances are produced in secretory tissues such as trichomes, resin canals, or laticifers. Understanding the developmental processes of how plants make secretory tissues, and how metabolites in them are stored and secreted could better allow plants to be used as factories for these valuable natural products.

SEM micrograph of a trichome (hair) from the surface of a geranium leaf.