Gary Tallman

Guard Cell Protoplasts

Guard cell protoplasts have been used extensively in short-term experiments designed to elucidate the signal transduction mechanisms that regulate stomatal movements. The utility of uard cell protoplasts for other types of longer-term signal transduction experiments is just now being realized. Because highly purified, primary isolates of guard cell protoplasts are synchronous initially, they are uniform in their responses to changes in culture conditions. Such isolates have demonstrated potential to reveal mechanisms that underlie hormonal signalling for plant cell survival, cell cycle re-entry, reprogramming of genes during dedifferentiation to an embryogenic state, and plant cell thermotolerance. Plants have been regenerated from cultured guard cell protoplasts of two species: Nicotiana glauca (Graham), tree tobacco, and Beta vulgaris, sugar beet. Plants genetically engineered for herbicide tolerance have been regenerated from cultured guard cell protoplasts of B. vulgaris. The method for isolating, culturing, and regenerating plants from guard cell protoplasts of N. glauca is described here. A recently developed procedure for large-scale isolation of these cells from as many as nine leaves per experiment is described. Using this protocol, yields of 1.5-2 x 10(7) per isolate may be obtained. Such yields are sufficient for standard methods of molecular, biochemical, and proteomic analysis.

Heat Reduces Nitric Oxide Production Required for Auxin-Mediated Gene Expression and Fate Determination in Tree Tobacco Guard Cell Protoplasts

Tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) is an equatorial perennial with a high basal thermotolerance. Cultured tree tobacco guard cell protoplasts (GCPs) are useful for studying the effects of heat stress on fate-determining hormonal signaling. At lower temperatures (32°C or less), exogenous auxin (1-naphthalene acetic acid) and cytokinin (6-benzylaminopurine) cause GCPs to expand 20- to 30-fold, regenerate cell walls, dedifferentiate, reenter the cell cycle, and divide. At higher temperatures (34°C or greater), GCPs expand only 5- to 6-fold; they do not regenerate walls, dedifferentiate, reenter the cell cycle, or divide. Heat (38°C) suppresses activation of the BA auxin-responsive transgene promoter in tree tobacco GCPs, suggesting that inhibition of cell expansion and cell cycle reentry at high temperatures is due to suppressed auxin signaling. Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in auxin signaling in other plant systems. Here, we show that heat inhibits NO accumulation by GCPs and that l-NG-monomethyl arginine, an inhibitor of NO production in animals and plants, mimics the effects of heat by limiting cell expansion and preventing cell wall regeneration; inhibiting cell cycle reentry, dedifferentiation, and cell division; and suppressing activation of the BA auxin-responsive promoter. We also show that heat and l-NG-monomethyl arginine reduce the mitotic indices of primary root meristems and inhibit lateral root elongation similarly. These data link reduced NO levels to suppressed auxin signaling in heat-stressed cells and seedlings of thermotolerant plants and suggest that even plants that have evolved to withstand sustained high temperatures may still be negatively impacted by heat stress.

Heat Suppresses Activation of an Auxin-Responsive Promoter in Cultured Guard Cell Protoplasts of Tree Tobacco

Cultured guard cell protoplasts (GCP) of tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) comprise a novel system for investigating the cell signaling mechanisms that lead to acquired thermotolerance and thermoinhibition. At 32°C in a medium containing an auxin (1-naphthaleneacetic acid [NAA]) and a cytokinin (6-benzylaminopurine), GCP expand, regenerate cell walls, dedifferentiate, and divide. At 38°C, GCP acquire thermotolerance within 24 h, but their expansion is limited and they neither regenerate walls nor reenter the cell cycle. These putative indicators of auxin insensitivity led us to hypothesize that heat suppresses induction of auxin-regulated genes in GCP. Protoplasts were transformed with BA-mgfp5-ER, in which the BA auxin-responsive promoter regulates transcription of mgfp5-ER encoding thermostable green fluorescent protein (GFP) or with a similar 35S-cauliflower mosaic virus constitutive promoter construct. Heat suppressed NAA-mediated activation of BA. After 21 h at 32°C in media with NAA, 49.0% ± 3.9% of BA-mgfp5-ER transformants strongly expressed GFP; expression percentages were similar to those of 35S-mgfp5-ER transformants at 32°C or 38°C. After 21 h at 38°C in media with NAA, 7.9% ± 1.6% of BA-mgfp5-ER transformants weakly expressed GFP, similar to GCP cultured at 32°C in media lacking NAA. Expression at 38°C was not increased by incubating for 48 h or increasing NAA concentrations 20-fold. After 9 to 12 h at 38°C, BA was no longer activated when cells were transferred to 32°C. Heat-stressed cells accumulate reactive oxygen species, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) suppresses auxin-responsive promoter activation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mesophyll protoplasts. H2O2 did not suppress BA activation at 32°C, nor did superoxide and H2O2 scavengers prevent BA suppression at 38°C.

Thermotolerant Guard Cell Protoplasts of Tree Tobacco Do Not Require Exogenous Hormones to Survive in Culture and Are Blocked from Reentering the Cell Cycle at the G1-to-S Transition

When guard cell protoplasts (GCPs) of tree tobacco [Nicotiana glauca (Graham)] are cultured at 32°C with an auxin (1-napthaleneacetic acid) and a cytokinin (6-benzylaminopurine), they reenter the cell cycle, dedifferentiate, and divide. GCPs cultured similarly but at 38°C and with 0.1 μm ± -cis,trans-abscisic acid (ABA) remain differentiated. GCPs cultured at 38°C without ABA dedifferentiate partially but do not divide. Cell survival after 1 week is 70% to 80% under all of these conditions. In this study, we show that GCPs cultured for 12 to 24 h at 38°C accumulate heat shock protein 70 and develop a thermotolerance that, upon transfer of cells to 32°C, enhances cell survival but inhibits cell cycle reentry, dedifferentiation, and division. GCPs dedifferentiating at 32°C require both 1-napthaleneacetic acid and 6-benzylaminopurine to survive, but thermotolerant GCPs cultured at 38°C ± ABA do not require either hormone for survival. Pulse-labeling experiments using 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine indicate that culture at 38°C ± ABA prevents dedifferentiation of GCPs by blocking cell cycle reentry at G1/S. Cell cycle reentry at 32°C is accompanied by loss of a 41-kD polypeptide that cross-reacts with antibodies to rat (Rattus norvegicus) extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1; thermotolerant GCPs retain this polypeptide. A number of polypeptides unique to thermotolerant cells have been uncovered by Boolean analysis of two-dimensional gels and are targets for further analysis. GCPs of tree tobacco can be isolated in sufficient numbers and with the purity required to study plant cell thermotolerance and its relationship to plant cell survival, growth, dedifferentiation, and division in vitro.