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Sterol Dynamics During Endocytic Trafficking in Arabidopsis

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Plant Endosomes

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1209))

Abstract

Sterols are lipids found in membranes of eukaryotic cells. Functions of sterols have been demonstrated for various cellular processes including endocytic trafficking in animal, fungal, and plant cells. The ability to visualize sterols at the subcellular level is crucial to understand sterol distribution and function during endocytic trafficking. In plant cells, the polyene antibiotic filipin is the most extensively used tool for the specific detection of fluorescently labeled 3-β-hydroxysterols in situ. Filipin can to some extent be used to track sterol internalization in live cells, but this application is limited, due to the inhibitory effects filipin exerts on sterol-dependent endocytosis. Nevertheless, filipin-sterol labeling can be performed on aldehyde-fixed cells which allows for sterol detection in endocytic compartments. This approach can combine studies correlating sterol distribution with experimental manipulations of endocytic trafficking pathways. Here, we describe step-by-step protocols and troubleshooting for procedures on live and fixed cells to visualize sterols during endocytic trafficking. We also provide a detailed discussion of advantages and limitations of both methods. Moreover, we illustrate the use of the endocytic recycling inhibitor brefeldin A and a genetically modified version of one of its target molecules for studying endocytic sterol trafficking.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge David Ehrhardt (Stanford, USA) for making available LTI6a-GFP seeds; Gerd Jürgens (Tübingen, Germany) for providing anti-KNOLLE serum and GNOM-GFP, GNOMsens-myc, and GNOMres-myc seeds; Ben Scheres (Utrecht, the Netherlands) for supplying ARF1-EGFP seeds; Ian Moore (Oxford, UK) for sharing RAB-A2a-EYFP seeds; Karin Schumacher (Heidelberg, Germany) for making available VHA-a1-GFP seeds; and Takashi Ueda (Tokyo, Japan) for providing ARA6-GFP (RAB-F1-GFP) seeds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Umeå University, Umeå, 90 187, Sweden

    Thomas Stanislas & Markus Grebe

  2. Institut für Biochemie und Biologie, Pflanzenphysiologie, Universität Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Haus 20, Potsdam-Golm, 14476, Germany

    Markus Grebe

  3. Membrane Biogenesis Laboratory, UMR 5200 CNRS-Université Bordeaux Segalen Bâtiment A3, INRA Bordeaux Aquitaine BP81, 71 Avenue Edouard Bourlaux, Villenave d’Ornon Cédex, 33883, France

    Yohann Boutté

Authors
  1. Thomas Stanislas
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  2. Markus Grebe
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  3. Yohann Boutté
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Markus Grebe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Marisa S. Otegui

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Stanislas, T., Grebe, M., Boutté, Y. (2014). Sterol Dynamics During Endocytic Trafficking in Arabidopsis. In: Otegui, M. (eds) Plant Endosomes. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1209. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1420-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1420-3_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1419-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1420-3

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