Endoplasmic reticulum targeted GFP reveals ER organization in tobacco NT-1 cells during cell division

• Published in: Plant physiology and biochemistry Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 95 - 105
• Main Authors: Gupton, S.L., Collings, D.A., Allen, N.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Elsevier Masson SAS 01.02.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Actin microfilaments; Actins - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Cell division; Cell kinetics; Cell Line; Cell physiology; Chromosomes, Plant - physiology; Cytokinesis - physiology; Endoplasmic reticulum; Endoplasmic Reticulum - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Green fluorescent protein; Green Fluorescent Proteins - metabolism; Interphase - physiology; Microtubules; Nicotiana - cytology; Nicotiana - metabolism; Nuclear envelope; Nuclear Envelope - metabolism; Nuclear invaginations; Plant physiology and development; GFP; Actin microfilaments; Nuclear invaginations; Microtubules; Green fluorescent protein; Cell division; Endoplasmic reticulum; Nuclear envelope; ER; DIC; Mitosis; Microfilament; Microtubule
• ISSN: 0981-9428; 1873-2690
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2006.03.003

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of plant cells undergoes a drastic reorganization during cell division. In tobacco NT-1 cells that stably express a GFP construct targeted to the ER, we have mapped the reorganization of ER that occurs during mitosis and cytokinesis with confocal laser scanning microscopy. During division, the ER and nuclear envelope do not vesiculate. Instead, tubules of ER accumulate around the chromosomes after the nuclear envelope breaks down, with these tubules aligning parallel to the microtubules of the mitotic spindle. In cytokinesis, the phragmoplast is particularly rich in ER, and the transnuclear channels and invaginations present in many interphase cells appear to develop from ER tubules trapped in the developing phragmoplast. Drug studies, using oryzalin and latrunculin to disrupt the microtubules and actin microfilaments, respectively, demonstrate that during division, the arrangement of ER is controlled by microtubules and not by actin, which is the reverse of the situation in interphase cells.