Abstract
The present ultrastructural investigation on the effects of 50 μM chlorpropham (previously called CIPC) on growing roots of wheat (Triticum aestivum (L.) Thell cv. Vergina) was undertaken to clarify the mechanism of a carbamate herbicide action in plant cells, since the wide range of responses of plant cells to carbamate herbicides is based mainly on immunofluorescence studies. Cells of control roots contained abundant microtubules both in interphase and mitotic arrays. In chlorpropham-treated roots, however, no microtubules could be detected at all, neither in dividing nor in differentiating cells. Cycling cells became binucleate, polyploid or contained incomplete cell walls, the result of inhibition of cytokinesis. In long-term drug treatments (24 h or more) the affected cells entered a new cycle, which, however, did not progress beyond mid-metaphase. The nuclei of binucleate cells initiated prophase synchronously. Small vacuoles and Golgi vesicles were trapped within the nucleoplasm of the multilobed nuclei. In roots recovering from 8 h chlorpropham treatment, cells continued to exhibit polyploid nuclei, intranuclear vacuoles and incomplete walls. Microtubules reappeared but they were sparse and lacked a definite orientation. Preprophase cells did not form normal preprophase bands of microtubules, while mitotic cells occasionally contained microtubules bound to chromosomes and converged to minipoles. It is concluded that chlorpropham disorganized directly microtubules in addition to irreversibly affecting microtubule organizing centres, which failed to further support microtubule arrays.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akashi T, Izumi K, Nagano E, Enomot M, Mizuno K and Shibaoka H 1988 Effects of propyzamide on tobacco cell microtubules in vivo and in vitro. Plant Cell Physiol. 29, 1053–1062.
Apostolakos P, Galatis B, Katsaros C and Schnepf E 1990. Tubulin conformation in microtubule-free cells of Vigna sinensis. An immunofluorescent and electron microscope study. Protoplasma 154, 132–143.
Bennett M D and Smith J B 1979 Colchicine-induced paracrystals in the tapetum of wheat anthers. J. Cell Sci. 38, 23–32.
Clayton L and Lloyd C W 1984 The relationship between the division plane and spindle geometry in Allium cells treated with CIPC and griseofulvin: An anti-tubulin study. Eur. J. Cell Biol. 34, 248–253.
Cyr R J and Palevitz B A 1995 Organization of cortical microtubules in plant cells. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 7, 65–71.
Eleftheriou E P 1993 Differentiation of abnormal sieve elements in roots of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) affected by colchicine. New Phytol. 125, 813–827.
Eleftheriou E P and Palevitz B A 1992 The effect of cytochalasin D on preprophase band organization in root tip cells of Allium. J. Cell Sci. 103, 989–998.
Emons A M C, Derksen J and Sassen M M A 1992 Do microtubules orient plant cell wall microfibrils? Physiol. Plant. 84, 486–493.
Falconer M M, Donaldson G and Seagull R W 1988 MTOCs in higher plant cells: An immunofluorescent study of microtubule assembly sites following depolymerization by APM. Protoplasma 144, 46–55.
Galatis B and Apostolakos P 1991 Patterns of microtubule reappearance in root cells of Vigna sinensis recovering from a colchicine treatment. Protoplasma 160, 131–143.
Giddings T H Fr and Staehelin L A 1991 Microtubule-mediated control of microfibril deposition: A re-examination of the hypothesis. In The Cytoskeletal Basis of Plant Growth and Form. Ed. C W Lloyd. pp 85–99. Academic Press, London.
Gunning B E S and Wick S M 1985 Preprophase bands, phragmoplasts, and spatial control of cytokinesis. J. Cell Sci. Suppl. 2, 157–179.
Kleinkopf G E, Brandt T L, Frazier M J and Moller G 1997 CIPC residues on stored russet burbank potatoes. 1. Maximum label application. Am. Potato J. 74, 107–117.
Lehnen L P, Vaughn M A and Vaughn K C 1990 Terbutol affects spindle microtubule organizing centres. J. Exp. Bot. 41, 537–547.
Lloyd C W and Traas J A 1988 The role of F-actin in determining the division plane of carrot suspension cells. Drug studies. Development 102, 211–221.
Manandhar G, Apostolakos P and Galatis B 1996 Cell division of binuclear cells induced by caffeine: spindle organization and determination of division plane. J. Plant Res. 109, 265–275.
Marc J 1997 Microtubule-organizing centres in plants. Trends Plant Sci. 2, 223–230.
Marc J and Palevitz B A 1990 Regulation of the spatial order of cortical microtubules in developing guard cells of Allium. Planta 182, 625–634.
Mizuno K 1993 Microtubule-nucleation sites on nuclei of higher plant cells. Protoplasma 173, 77–85.
Morejohn L C 1991 The molecular pharmacology of plant tubulin and microtubules. In The Cytoskeletal Basis of Plant Growth and Form. Ed. C W Lloyd. pp 29–43. Academic Press, London.
Morejohn L C and Fosket D E 1986 Tubulins from plants, animals and protists. In Cell and Molecular Biology of the Cytoskeleton. Ed. J W Sharp. pp. 257–329. Plenum Press, New York.
Nooden L D 1971 Physiological and developmental effects of colchicine. Plant Cell Physiol. 12, 759–770.
Samuels A L and Staehelin L A 1996 Caffeine inhibits cell plate formation by disrupting membrane reorganization just after the vesicle fusion step. Protoplasma 195, 144–155.
Takanari H, Yosida T, Morita J, Izutsu K and Ito T 1990 Instability of pleomorphic tubulin paracrystals artificially induced by Vinca alkaloids in tissue-cultured cells. Biol. Cell 70, 83–90.
Wasteneys G O and Williamson R E 1989 Reassembly of microtubules in Nitella tasmanica: quantitative analysis of assembly and orientation. Eur. J. Cell Biol. 50, 76–83.
Wernicke W and Jung G 1992 Role of cytoskeleton in cell shaping of developing mesophyll of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Eur. J. Cell Biol. 57, 88–94.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eleftheriou, E., Bekiari, E. Ultrastructural effects of the herbicide chlorpropham (CIPC) in root tip cells of wheat. Plant and Soil 226, 11–19 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026409027223
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026409027223