Cadmium-induced changes in vacuolar aspects of Arabidopsis thaliana.

We have examined the changes due to Cd treatment in the vacuolar form in root tip cortical cells in Arabidopsis thaliana employing a transformant with GFP fused to a tonoplast protein. A Cd-induced enhancement in complexity with general expansion of vacuolar system within 24 h was evident. The changes in the vacuolar form were dependent on the applied Cd concentrations. Concomitantly, as revealed through dithizone staining, Cd accumulated in the seedling roots exhibiting abundance of Cd-dithizone complexes in root tip, root hairs and vasculature. To get insight into the involvement of SNARE protein-mediated vesicle fusion in Cd detoxification, the magnitude of Cd toxicity in a couple of knock out mutants of the vacuolar Qa-SNARE protein VAM3/SYP22 was compared with that in the wild type. The Cd toxicity appeared to be comparable in the mutants and the wild type. In order to analyze the Cd effects at cellular level, we treated the Arabidopsis suspension-cultured cells with Cd. Cd, however, did not induce a change in the vacuolar form in suspension-cultured cells although Cd measured with ICP-MS was obviously taken up into the cell. The V-ATPase activity in the microsomal fractions from vacuoles isolated from A. thaliana suspension cultured cells remained unaffected by Cd. Changes in the levels of certain metabolites of Cd-treated cells were also not so distinct except for those of glutathione. The significance of findings is discussed.

Dynamic aspects of ion accumulation by vesicle traffic under salt stress in Arabidopsis.

The intracellular membrane dynamics of Arabidopsis cells under high salt treatment were investigated. When Arabidopsis was treated with high levels of NaCl in hydroponic culture, root tip cells showed rapid changes in the vacuolar volume, a decrease in the number of small acid compartments, active movement of vesicles and accumulation of Na(+) both in the central vacuole and in the vesicles around the main vacuole observed with the Na(+)-dependent fluorescence of Sodium Green. Detailed observation of Arabidopsis suspension-cultured cells under high salt treatment showed a similar pattern of response to that observed in root tip cells. Immunostaining of suspension-cultured cells with antibodies against AtNHX1 clearly showed the occurrence of dotted fluorescence in the cytoplasm only under salt treatment. We also confirmed the existence of AtNHX1 in the vacuolar membrane isolated from suspension-cultured cells with immunofluorescence. Knockout of the vacuolar Q(a)-SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) protein VAM3/SYP22 caused an increase in salt tolerance. In mutant plants, the distribution of Na(+) between roots and shoots differed from that of wild-type plants, with Na(+) accumulating more in roots and less in the shoots of the mutant plants. The role of vesicle traffic under salt stress is discussed.