Abstract
RNA in situ hybridization is a powerful technique but can be time consuming and potentially hazardous. We developed a procedure in which nonisotopic in situ hybridization is performed in Vibratome-sectioned tissues that are not dehydrated or embedded in paraffin or resin, thus avoiding additional pretreatment steps to allow the probes to penetrate the cell structure. Predigestion with proteases was not necessary. Hybridization of sections and immunologic detection were performed in microplates to avoid the use of slide-coating agents. Biotinylated cDNA probes were synthesized by PCR. Synthetic oligonucleotide probes chemically labeled with biotin or digoxigenin were also used. Stained sections were mounted on slides for microscopic observation, and various transcripts were successfully detected using different visualization methods. This method is fast and can be easily implemented in other laboratories because it requires minimal expertise in processing biological samples for microscopy.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- AP:
-
alkaline phosphatase
- BCIP:
-
5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-phosphate
- DIG:
-
digoxigenin
- GS:
-
glutamine synthetase
- NBT:
-
nitroblue tetrazolium chloride
- PBS:
-
phosphate buffer saline
- Pipes:
-
piperazine-N,N′-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid)
- UTR:
-
untranslated region
References
Bendayan M (1984) Protein A-gold electron microscopic immunocytochemistry: methods applications and limitations. J Electron Microsc Tech 1: 243–270.
Carvalho H, Pereira S, Sunkel C, and Salema R (1992) Detection of a cytosolic glutamine synthetase in leaves ofNicotiana tabacum L. by immunocytochemical methods. Plant Physiol 100: 1591–1594.
Chevalier J, Yi J, Michele O, and Tang X-M (1997) Biotin and digoxigenin as labels for light and electron microscopy in situ hybridization probes: where do we stand? J Histochem Cytochem 45: 481–491.
De Block M and Debrouwer D (1996) RNA-RNA in situ hybridization using DIG-labeled probes: the effect of high molecular weight polyvinyl alcohol on the alkaline phosphataseindoxyl-nitroblue tetrazolium reaction. In: Nonradioactive in situ hybridization applicationmanual, 2nd ed, pp 141–145, Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Faro C, Ramalho-Santos M, Vieira M, Mendes A, Simões I, Andrade R, Veríssimo P, Lin X-L, Tang J, and Pires E (1999) Cloning and characterization of cDNA encoding cardosin A, anRGD-containing plant aspartic proteinase. J Biol Chem 274: 28724–28729.
Forde BG and Cullimore JV (1989) The molecular biology of glutamine synthetase in higher plants. Oxford Surv Plant Molec Biol 6: 247–296.
El-Badry OM and Darfler MM (1996) Evaluation of biotinylated oligonucleotide probes forin situ hybridization. FOCUS 18: 70–72.
Garabagi F and Strommer J (2000) Green fluorescent protein as an all-purpose reporter in Petunia. Plant Mol Biol Rep 18: 219–226.
Guilfoyle TJ, McClure BA, Gee MA, and Hagen G (1993) Tissue-printing hybridization for detecting RNA directly. Meth Enzymol 218: 688–695.
Mertz LM, Westfall B, and Rashtchian A (1994) PCR nonradioactive labeling system for synthesis of biotinylated DNA probes. FOCUS 16: 49–51.
Pereira S, Carvalho H, Sunkel C, and Salema R (1992) Immunocytolocalization of glutamine synthetase in mesophyll and phloem of leaves ofSolanum tuberosum L. Protoplasma 167: 66–73.
Pereira S, Pissarra J, Sunkel C, and Salema R (1996) Tissue-specific distribution of glutamine synthetase in potato tubers. Annals of Botany 77: 429–432.
Pérez-García A, Pereira S, Pissarra J, Gutiérrez AG, Salema R, de Vicente A, and Cánovas FM (1998) Cytosolic localization in tomato mesophyll cells of a novel glutamine synthetase induced in response to aPseudomonas syringae infection or phosphinothricin treatment. Planta 206: 426–434.
Pringle JH (1995) Non-isotopic detection of RNA in situ. In: Levy ER and Herrington CS (eds), Non-isotopic methods in molecular biology, pp 85–110, Oxford University Press Inc., New York.
Ramalho-Santos M, Pissarra J, Veríssimo P, Pereira S, Salema R, Pires E, and Faro C (1997) Cardosin A, an abundant aspartic proteinase, accumulates in protein storage vacuoles in the stigmatic papillae ofCynara cardunculus L Planta 203: 204–212.
Salema R and Brandão I (1973) The use of Pipes buffer in the fixation of plant cells for electron microscopy. J Submicr Cytol 5: 79–96.
Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, and Maniatis T (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borlido, J., Pereira, S., Ferreira, R. et al. Simple and fast in situ hybridization. Plant Mol Biol Rep 20, 219–229 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782457
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782457