This video shows a procedure for isolating intact protoplasts from tissues of 14-day-old seedlings of Arabidopsis. Given that the isolated protoplasts remain intact for at least 96h and are isolated from seedlings instead of one-month-old mature plants, this procedure expedites assays requiring intact protoplasts.
Abstract
Protoplasts are plant cells that have had their cell walls enzymatically removed. Isolation of protoplasts from different plant tissues was first reported more than 40 years ago 1 and has since been adapted to study a variety of cellular processes, such as subcellular localization of proteins, isolation of intact organelles and targeted gene-inactivation by double stranded RNA interference (RNAi) 2-5. Most of the protoplast isolation protocols use leaf tissues of mature Arabidopsis (e.g. 35-day-old plants) 2-4. We modified existing protocols by employing 14-day-old Arabidopsis seedlings. In this procedure, one gram of 14-day-old seedlings yielded 5 106-107 protoplasts that remain intact at least 96 hours. The yield of protoplasts from seedlings is comparable with preparations from leaves of mature Arabidopsis, but instead of 35-36 days, isolation of protoplasts is completed in 15 days. This allows decreasing the time and growth chamber space that are required for isolating protoplasts when mature plants are used, and expedites the downstream studies that require intact protoplasts.
Protocol
Part 1. Preparation of solid medium for growing plants. We typically culture plants on concentrated Murasige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1% sucrose and 0.7% agar. It contains all necessary ingredients to keep plants healthy. For preparing 1L of MS, media pH 5.7 Add 2.15 g of MS powder into 800 ml of water in 1.5 -2.0L autoclavable bottle. Place a stirring bar into the bottle and dissolve MS powder by stirring medium…
Discussion
To ensure the high yield of intact protoplast it is very important to start-up with healthy plants. Use filter-sterilize solutions for isolating protoplasts. Remember that protoplasts are fragile. Therefore, when you are handling protoplasts, do not mix, pipet or vortex them vigorously since it will brake them. Instead, mix protoplasts by slowly rotating or taping the centrifuge tube. The described procedure yield intact protoplasts that are viable for at least 96 h. Therefore, protoplasts can be used to study a var…
Declarações
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (CUAES) NYC-125433 Hatch Grant and Cornell Start-Up Grant awarded to O.K.V.
Zhai, Z., Jung, H., Vatamaniuk, O. K. Isolation of Protoplasts from Tissues of 14-day-old Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana. J. Vis. Exp. (30), e1149, doi:10.3791/1149 (2009).