Summary
Changes in the spatial relationship between actin filaments and microtubules during the differentiation of tracheary elements (TEs) was investigated by a double staining technique in isolatedZinnia mesophyll cells. Before thickening of the secondary wall began to occur, the actin filaments and microtubules were oriented parallel to the long axis of the cell. Reticulate bundles of microtubules and aggregates of actin filaments emerged beneath the plasma membrane almost simultaneously, immediately before the start of the deposition of the secondary wall. The aggregates of actin filaments were observed exclusively between the microtubule bundles. Subsequently, the aggregates of actin filaments extended preferentially in the direction transverse to the long axis of the cell, and the arrays of bundles of microtubules which were still present between the aggregates of actin filaments became transversely aligned. The deposition of the secondary walls then took place along the transversely aligned bundles of microtubules.
Disruption of actin filaments by cytochalasin B produced TEs with longitudinal bands of secondary wall, along which bundles of microtubules were seen, while TEs produced in the absence of cytochalasin B had transverse bands of secondary wall. These results indicate that actin filaments play an important role in the change in the orientation of arrays of microtubules from longitudinal to transverse. Disruption of microtubules by colchicine resulted in dispersal of the regularly arranged aggregates of actin filaments, but did not inhibit the formation of the aggregates itself, suggesting that microtubules are involved in maintaining the arrangement of actin filaments but are not involved in inducing the formation of the regularly arranged aggregates of actin filaments.
These findings demonstrate that actin filaments cooperate with microtubules in controlling the site of deposition of the secondary wall in developing TEs.
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Abbreviations
- DMSO:
-
dimethylsulfoxide
- EGTA:
-
ethyleneglycolbis(β-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid
- FITC:
-
fluorescein isothiocyanate
- MSB:
-
microtubule-stabilizing buffer
- PBS:
-
phosphate buffered saline
- PIPES:
-
piperazine-N,N′-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid)
- TE:
-
tracheary element
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Kobayashi, H., Fukuda, H. & Shibaoka, H. Interrelation between the spatial disposition of actin filaments and microtubules during the differentiation of tracheary elements in culturedZinnia cells. Protoplasma 143, 29–37 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01282956
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01282956