Fracture planes of the plasmalemma of some higher plants revealed by freeze-etch

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Abstract
Freeze-substitution studies have been carried out on plant material which had been fractured while frozen in order to locate the planes of fracture. It was clearly shown that in some cases the plasmalemma was split along the hydrophobic interface while in others the fracture passed on either side of the membrane. The freeze-etch process exposed different surfaces at the cell periphery and these were related to both types of fracture seen in the freeze-substituted material.