The mucilage cells of Opuntia ficus-indica start to differentiate in the apical meristem of the shoot. Six stages of development have been distinguished, based on ER development, Golgi body differentiation, and appearance of mucilage. Cytochemical tests of polysaccharides confirmed that only the Golgi bodies are involved in mucilage secretion and also suggest that the mucilage passes through the plasmalemma by reverse pinocytosis.
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Trachtenberg et al. (1981) studied this question.
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