Toyoki Amano

A versatile assay for the accurate, time-resolved determination of cellular viability

A convenient and versatile method for the accurate, time-resolved determination of cellular viability has been developed. The conventional viability indicator fluorescein diacetate (FDA), which is converted to the fluorescent compound fluorescein in living cells, was employed as a viability probe. Fluorescence emission from cells was measured using a spectrofluorimeter equipped with a magnetic stirrer. Using this assay cell suspensions exhibiting densities in the range 0.5 x 10(5) to 2.0 x 10(5) cells displayed a linear response when FDA concentrations less than 12 micro M were employed. To calibrate the method, viability standards were elaborated using different proportions of living and dead cells, and a correlation coefficient for the viability of tobacco BY-2 suspensions was calculated as 0.998. This viability assay was also found to be applicable to Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Arabidopsis thaliana cultured cells. Using this cell viability assay, kinetic analyses of cell death could be performed. Using the proteinaceous elicitor from Phytophthora cryptogea, cryptogein, to induce cell death in tobacco cell suspensions, values for the maximum velocity of death induction rate (V(max)) and the LD50 (half-maximal velocity or k(1/2)) were calculated as 17.2 (% death/h) and 65 nM, respectively.

Chloroplasts in seeds and dark-grown seedlings of lotus

In most higher plants, mature dry seeds have no chloroplasts but etioplasts. Here we show that in a hydrophyte, lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), young chloroplasts already exist in shoots of mature dry seeds and that they give rise to mature chloroplasts during germination, even in darkness. These shoots contain chlorophyll and chlorophyll-binding proteins CP1 and LHCP. The unique features of chloroplast formation in N. nucifera suggest a unique adaptive strategy for seedling development correlated with the plants habitat.

The role of the Mg2+ cation in ATPsynthase studied by electron paramagnetic resonance using VO2+ and Mn2+ paramagnetic probes

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) and hyperfine sublevel correlation (HYSCORE) spectra of Mg2+-depleted chloroplast F1-ATPase substituted with stoichiometric VO2+ are reported. The ESEEM and HYSCORE spectra of the complex are dominated by the hyperfine and quadrupole interactions between the VO2+ paramagnet and two different nitrogen ligands with isotropic hyperfine couplings /A1/ = 4.11 MHz and /A2/ = 6.46 MHz and nuclear quadrupole couplings e2qQ1 approximately 3.89-4.49 MHz and e2qQ2 approximately 1.91-2.20 MHz, respectively. Aminoacid functional groups compatible with these magnetic couplings include a histidine imidazole, the epsilon-NH2 of a lysine residue, and the guanidinium group of an arginine. Consistent with this interpretation, very characteristic correlations are detected in the HYSCORE spectra between the 14N deltaM1 = 2 transitions in the negative quadrant, and also between some of the deltaM1 = 1 transitions in the positive quadrant. The interaction of the substrate and product ADP and ATP nucleotides with the enzyme has been studied in protein complexes where Mg2+ is substituted for Mn2+. Stoichiometric complexes of Mn x ADP and Mn x ATP with the whole enzyme show distinct and specific hyperfine couplings with the 31P atoms of the bonding phosphates in the HYSCORE (ADP, A(31Pbeta) = 5.20 MHz: ATP, A(31Pbeta) = 4.60 MHz and A(31Pgamma) = 5.90 MHz) demonstrating the role of the enzyme active site in positioning the di- or triphosphate chain of the nucleotide for efficient catalysis. When the complexes are formed with the isolated alpha or beta subunits of the enzyme, the HYSCORE spectra are substantially modified, suggesting that in these cases the nucleotide binding site is only partially structured.