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Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on April 22, 2008; 10.1105/tpc.108.058503

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Received February 5, 2008
Returned for revision March 30, 2008
Accepted April 7, 2008

Analysis of Cortical Arrays from Tradescantia virginiana at High Resolution Reveals Discrete Microtubule Subpopulations and Demonstrates That Confocal Images of Arrays Can Be Misleading

Deborah A. Barton 1, Marylin Vantard 2, and Robyn L. Overall 1*

1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
2 Département Réponse et Dynamique Cellulaires, Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5168, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique/Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique/Université Joseph Fourier de Grenoble, F-38054 Grenoble, France

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: roverall{at}mail.usyd.edu.au.

Cortical microtubule arrays are highly organized networks involved in directing cellulose microfibril deposition within the cell wall. Their organization results from complex interactions between individual microtubules and microtubule-associated proteins. The precise details of these interactions are often not evident using optical microscopy. Using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, we analyzed extensive regions of cortical arrays and identified two spatially discrete microtubule subpopulations that exhibited different stabilities. Microtubules that lay adjacent to the plasma membrane were often bundled and more stable than the randomly aligned, discordant microtubules that lay deeper in the cytoplasm. Immunolabeling revealed katanin at microtubule ends, on curves, or at sites along microtubules in line with neighboring microtubule ends. End binding 1 protein also localized along microtubules, at microtubule ends or junctions between microtubules, and on the plasma membrane in direct line with microtubule ends. We show fine bands in vivo that traverse and may encircle microtubules. Comparing confocal and electron microscope images of fluorescently tagged arrays, we demonstrate that optical images are misleading, highlighting the fundamental importance of studying cortical microtubule arrays at high resolution.




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N. A. Eckardt
High-Resolution Imaging of Cortical Microtubule Arrays
PLANT CELL, April 1, 2008; 20(4): 817 - 819.
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