Functional studies of selected members of the Arabidopsis formin family

Formins are multidomain proteins containing a conserved formin-homology 2 (FH2) domain, which catalyzes de novo nucleation of actin filaments. In yeast and animal cells, both mechanisms and regulation of formin function have been extensively studied, yet much less is known about action of plant formins, which considerably differ from yeast and animal ones in the domain composition. In higher plants, formins are classified into two groups, Class I and Class II, and so far, experimental data are available only for the first group members. Here I present results of experimental study of several members of the large formin family in Arabidopsis, including the characterization of a Class II formin AtFH16. Arabidopsis genome contains 21 formin-encoding genes, and though they greatly differ in their expression levels and pattern, all of them are transcriptionally active. We selected 17 homozygous T-DNA insertional mutants in 14 formin genes. Under standard cultivation conditions, no obvious phenotypic discrepancies between wild type and mutant plants were found. To impair two dominant pollen formins, an atfh3atfh5 double-mutant was prepared and even in this case, both microspore development and pollen tube growth remained unaffected. Consistently, polarized growth of tobacco pollen tubes was not altered..

Funkční studie vybraných zástupců forminové rodiny u Arabidopsis

Souhrn Forminy jsou multidoménové proteiny obsahující konzervovanou FH2 doménu (forminhomology 2 domain), která je schopna katalyzovat nukleaci aktinových filament de novo. Funkce forminu, stejne jako jejich regulace, byly podrobne studovány predevším u kvasinek a živocichu, zatímco mnohem méne je známo o rostlinných forminech, které se od kvasinkových i živocišných zástupcu znacne liší v doménovém usporádání. Forminy vyšších rostlin se delí do dvou skupin, trídy I a trídy II a experimentální údaje jsou doposud k dispozici pouze pro první skupinu. V této dizertaci predkládám výsledky z experimentální studie nekolika zástupcu velké rodiny forminu u Arabidopsis, vcetne charakterizace forminu AtFH16 z trídy II. Genom Arabidopsis obsahuje 21 genu kódujících forminy, a prestože se hladina a rozložení jejich exprese znacne liší, všechny jsou transkripcne aktivní. V celkem 14-ti forminových genech jsme získali 17 homozygotních mutantu s T-DNA inzercí. Za standartních kultivacních podmínek jsme nenašli zjevné odlišnosti ve fenotypech mutantu v porovnání s kontrolami. Abychom vyradili z funkce dva dominantní pylové forminy, pripravili jsme dvojitého mutanta atfh3atfh5, avšak i v tomto prípade se vývoj mikrospor a následné klícení a rust pylových lácek nezmenily. Stejne tak nedošlo k narušení polarizovaného rustu...Formins are multidomain proteins containing a conserved formin-homology 2 (FH2) domain, which catalyzes de novo nucleation of actin filaments. In yeast and animal cells, both mechanisms and regulation of formin function have been extensively studied, yet much less is known about action of plant formins, which considerably differ from yeast and animal ones in the domain composition. In higher plants, formins are classified into two groups, Class I and Class II, and so far, experimental data are available only for the first group members. Here I present results of experimental study of several members of the large formin family in Arabidopsis, including the characterization of a Class II formin AtFH16. Arabidopsis genome contains 21 formin-encoding genes, and though they greatly differ in their expression levels and pattern, all of them are transcriptionally active. We selected 17 homozygous T-DNA insertional mutants in 14 formin genes. Under standard cultivation conditions, no obvious phenotypic discrepancies between wild type and mutant plants were found. To impair two dominant pollen formins, an atfh3atfh5 double-mutant was prepared and even in this case, both microspore development and pollen tube growth remained unaffected. Consistently, polarized growth of tobacco pollen tubes was not altered...Department of Experimental Plant BiologyKatedra experimentální biologie rostlinFaculty of SciencePřírodovědecká fakult

Functional studies of selected members of the Arabidopsis formin family

Formins are multidomain proteins containing a conserved formin-homology 2 (FH2) domain, which catalyzes de novo nucleation of actin filaments. In yeast and animal cells, both mechanisms and regulation of formin function have been extensively studied, yet much less is known about action of plant formins, which considerably differ from yeast and animal ones in the domain composition. In higher plants, formins are classified into two groups, Class I and Class II, and so far, experimental data are available only for the first group members. Here I present results of experimental study of several members of the large formin family in Arabidopsis, including the characterization of a Class II formin AtFH16. Arabidopsis genome contains 21 formin-encoding genes, and though they greatly differ in their expression levels and pattern, all of them are transcriptionally active. We selected 17 homozygous T-DNA insertional mutants in 14 formin genes. Under standard cultivation conditions, no obvious phenotypic discrepancies between wild type and mutant plants were found. To impair two dominant pollen formins, an atfh3atfh5 double-mutant was prepared and even in this case, both microspore development and pollen tube growth remained unaffected. Consistently, polarized growth of tobacco pollen tubes was not altered..

A new kymogram-based method reveals unexpected effects of marker protein expression and spatial anisotropy of cytoskeletal dynamics in plant cell cortex

Abstract Background Cytoskeleton can be observed in live plant cells in situ with high spatial and temporal resolution using a combination of specific fluorescent protein tag expression and advanced microscopy methods such as spinning disc confocal microscopy (SDCM) or variable angle epifluorescence microscopy (VAEM). Existing methods for quantifying cytoskeletal dynamics are often either based on laborious manual structure tracking, or depend on costly commercial software. Current automated methods also do not readily allow separate measurements of structure lifetime, lateral mobility, and spatial anisotropy of these parameters. Results We developed a new freeware-based, operational system-independent semi-manual technique for analyzing VAEM or SDCM data, QuACK (Quantitative Analysis of Cytoskeletal Kymograms), and validated it on data from Arabidopsis thaliana fh1 formin mutants, previously shown by conventional methods to exhibit altered actin and microtubule dynamics compared to the wild type. Besides of confirming the published mutant phenotype, QuACK was used to characterize surprising differential effects of various fluorescent protein tags fused to the Lifeact actin probe on actin dynamics in A. thaliana cotyledon epidermis. In particular, Lifeact-YFP slowed down actin dynamics compared to Lifeact-GFP at marker expression levels causing no macroscopically noticeable phenotypic alterations, although the two fluorophores are nearly identical. We could also demonstrate the expected, but previously undocumented, anisotropy of cytoskeletal dynamics in elongated epidermal cells of A. thaliana petioles and hypocotyls. Conclusions Our new method for evaluating plant cytoskeletal dynamics has several advantages over existing techniques. It is intuitive, rapid compared to fully manual approaches, based on the free ImageJ software (including macros we provide here for download), and allows measurement of multiple parameters. Our approach was already used to document unexpected differences in actin mobility in transgenic A. thaliana expressing Lifeact fusion proteins with different fluorophores, highlighting the need for cautious interpretation of experimental results, as well as to reveal hitherto uncharacterized anisotropy of cytoskeletal mobility in elongated plant cells

Formins: Linking Cytoskeleton and Endomembranes in Plant Cells

The cytoskeleton plays a central part in spatial organization of the plant cytoplasm, including the endomebrane system. However, the mechanisms involved are so far only partially understood. Formins (FH2 proteins), a family of evolutionarily conserved proteins sharing the FH2 domain whose dimer can nucleate actin, mediate the co-ordination between actin and microtubule cytoskeletons in multiple eukaryotic lineages including plants. Moreover, some plant formins contain transmembrane domains and participate in anchoring cytoskeletal structures to the plasmalemma, and possibly to other membranes. Direct or indirect membrane association is well documented even for some fungal and metazoan formins lacking membrane insertion motifs, and FH2 proteins have been shown to associate with endomembranes and modulate their dynamics in both fungi and metazoans. Here we summarize the available evidence suggesting that formins participate in membrane trafficking and endomembrane, especially ER, organization also in plants. We propose that, despite some methodological pitfalls inherent to in vivo studies based on (over)expression of truncated and/or tagged proteins, formins are beginning to emerge as candidates for the so far somewhat elusive link between the plant cytoskeleton and the endomembrane system