The Filament Bundle of Mentha piperita.
Bundles consisting of 6 to 8 parallel filaments (6 nm thick) are localized in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus - particularly in mesophyll cells and in 3-celled capitate glandular hairs, but not in the 10-celled glandular peltate hairs of the leaves of MENTHA PIPERITA. They are present in as yet 8 investigated species of the genus MENTHA, but not in 8 further genera of the Lamiaceae. The bundles are therefore genus-specific; they consist of protein only. A possible connection with the production of essential oil is discussed.
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