Root aerenchyma is essential for survival under waterlogged conditions for plants. It has been necessary to explore a model system of schizogenous aerenchyma in Brassicaceae. Here, we report the formation of schizogenous aerenchyma in primary roots of seedlings of Cardamine amara showing a rather simple cartwheel pattern. The formation of the aerenchyma was suggested to involve three developmental processes: (1) formation of a three-layered cortex, (2) circumferential division of the outer layer of the cortex, and (3) circumferential detachment of cells in the middle layer of the cortex. The root aerenchyma of the C. amara seedling discovered here is the simplest one ever reported, and is a suitable candidate for the model of schizogenous aerenchyma development in plants.

Center for Ecological Research Kyoto University Otsu 520 2113 Japan

Department of Biology Graduate School of Science Kobe University Kobe 657 8501 Japan

Department of Botany Faculty of Science Charles University 128 01 Praha Czech Republic

Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich 8057 Zurich Switzerland

Institute of Botany Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava 845 23 Slovak Republic

Kihara Institute for Biological Research Yokohama City University Yokohama 244 0813 Japan

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