ISSN:
0886-1544
Keywords:
Nicotiana
;
Hordeum
;
microtubule
;
cell differentiation
;
Life and Medical Sciences
;
Cell & Developmental Biology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Changes in the tubulin-protein and -poly(A)+RNA contents were monitored by means of Western and Northern blot analyses, respectively, during growth and maturation of leaves of a dicotyledonous (tobacco) and monocotyledonous (barley) plant. It was recently argued from immunofluorescence and preliminary biochemical data that the density of microtubular networks and concomitantly the tubulin content are distinctly reduced after cessation of cell growth in leaves [Jung et al., 1993]. The results presented now confirm and extend this view. There appeared to be clear differences between the monocot and the dicot: (1) the loss of tubulin during leaf development was much slower in the dicot than in the monocot leaves (within months instead of days); (2) the degree of loss was more dramatic in the monocot leaf and only very low threshold levels of tubulin were retained in fully differentiated tissues; and (3) the loss of tubulin in the monocot leaf tissue appeared to be correlated with the decrease in the mRNA content, whereas the high level of tubulin-RNA in fully differentiated or even almost senescent dicot leaves indicated a gene expression control at the posttranscriptional level.The comparatively rapid and very distinct tubulin-protein and -RNA disappearance during development of the monocot leaf tissues confirm at the molecular level that differentiation proceeds much faster and is much more determinative in these leaves, as was postulated from histological and physiological data. The differences in the behaviour of the microtubular cytoskeleton perhaps even reflect the differences in the ability of the differentiated leaf cells to dedifferentiate, i.e., to establish new sets of microtubules and to reenter the mitotic cell cycle, e.g., during would response, tumour induction or in vitro culture. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Material:
6 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cm.970300108
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