Super-resolution imaging with Pontamine Fast Scarlet 4BS enables direct visualization of cellulose orientation and cell connection architecture in onion epidermis cells

BACKGROUND: In plants, a complex cell wall protects cells and defines their shape. Cellulose fibrils form a multilayered network inside the cell-wall matrix that plays a direct role in controlling cell expansion. Resolving the structure of this network will allow us to comprehend the relationship of cellulose fibril orientation and growth. The fluorescent dye Pontamine Fast Scarlet 4BS (PFS) was shown to stain cellulose with high specificity and could be used to visualize cellulose bundles in cell walls of Arabidopsis root epidermal cells with confocal microscopy. The resolution limit of confocal microscopy of some 200 nm in xy and 550 nm in z for green light, restricts the direct visualization of cellulose to relatively large bundles, whereas the structure of cellulose microfibrils with their diameter below 10 nm remains unresolved. Over the last decade, several so-called super-resolution microscopy approaches have been developed; in this paper we explore the potential of such approaches for the direct visualization of cellulose. RESULTS: To ensure optimal imaging we determined the spectral properties of PFS-stained tissue. PFS was found not to affect cell viability in the onion bulb scale epidermis. We present the first super-resolution images of cellulose bundles in the plant cell wall produced by direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM) in combination with total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. Since TIRF limits observation to the cell surface, we tested as alternatives 3D-structured illumination microscopy (3D-SIM) and confocal microscopy, combined with image deconvolution. Both methods offer lower resolution than STORM, but enable 3D imaging. While 3D-SIM produced strong artifacts, deconvolution gave good results. The resolution was improved over conventional confocal microscopy and the approach could be used to demonstrate differences in fibril orientation in different layers of the cell wall as well as particular cellulose fortifications around plasmodesmata. CONCLUSIONS: Super-resolution light microscopy of PFS-stained cellulose fibrils is possible and the increased resolution over conventional approaches makes it a valuable tool for the investigation of the cell-wall structure. This is one step in method developments that will close the gap to more invasive techniques, such as atomic force and electron microscopy

Regulation of Ca2+ channels by SNAP-25 via recruitment of syntaxin-1 from plasma membrane clusters

SNAP-25 regulates Ca(2+) channels, with potentially important consequences for diseases involving an aberrant SNAP-25 expression level. How this regulation is executed mechanistically remains unknown. We investigated this question in mouse adrenal chromaffin cells and found that SNAP-25 inhibits Ca(2+) currents, with the B-isoform being more potent than the A-isoform, but not when syntaxin-1 is cleaved by botulinum neurotoxin C. In contrast, syntaxin-1 inhibits Ca(2+) currents independently of SNAP-25. Further experiments using immunostaining showed that endogenous or exogenous SNAP-25 expression recruits syntaxin-1 from clusters on the plasma membrane, thereby increasing the immunoavailability of syntaxin-1 and leading indirectly to Ca(2+) current inhibition. Expression of Munc18-1, which recruits syntaxin-1 within the exocytotic pathway, does not modulate Ca(2+) channels, whereas overexpression of the syntaxin-binding protein Doc2B or ubMunc13-2 increases syntaxin-1 immunoavailability and concomitantly down-regulates Ca(2+) currents. Similar findings were obtained upon chemical cholesterol depletion, leading directly to syntaxin-1 cluster dispersal and Ca(2+) current inhibition. We conclude that clustering of syntaxin-1 allows the cell to maintain a high syntaxin-1 expression level without compromising Ca(2+) influx, and recruitment of syntaxin-1 from clusters by SNAP-25 expression makes it available for regulating Ca(2+) channels. This mechanism potentially allows the cell to regulate Ca(2+) influx by expanding or contracting syntaxin-1 clusters

Doc2B acts as a calcium sensor for vesicle priming requiring synaptotagmin-1, Munc13-2 and SNAREs

Doc2B is a cytosolic protein with binding sites for Munc13 and Tctex-1 (dynein light chain), and two C2-domains that bind to phospholipids, Ca2+ and SNAREs. Whether Doc2B functions as a calcium sensor akin to synaptotagmins, or in other calcium-independent or calcium-dependent capacities is debated. We here show by mutation and overexpression that Doc2B plays distinct roles in two sequential priming steps in mouse adrenal chromaffin cells. Mutating Ca2+-coordinating aspartates in the C2A-domain localizes Doc2B permanently at the plasma membrane, and renders an upstream priming step Ca2+-independent, whereas a separate function in downstream priming depends on SNARE-binding, Ca2+-binding to the C2B-domain of Doc2B, interaction with ubMunc13-2 and the presence of synaptotagmin-1. Another function of Doc2B - inhibition of release during sustained calcium elevations - depends on an overlapping protein domain (the MID-domain), but is separate from its Ca2+-dependent priming function. We conclude that Doc2B acts as a vesicle priming protein

Dynamic conformational transitions of the EGF receptor in living mammalian cells determined by FRET and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

We have revealed a reorientation of ectodomain I of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR; ErbB1; Her1) in living CHO cells expressing the receptor, upon binding of the native ligand EGF. The state of the unliganded, nonactivated EGFR was compared to that exhibited after ligand addition in the presence of a kinase inhibitor that prevents endocytosis but does not interfere with binding or the ensuing conformational rearrangements. To perform these experiments, we constructed a transgene EGFR with an acyl carrier protein sequence between the signal peptide and the EGFR mature protein sequence. This protein, which behaves similarly to wild-type EGFR with respect to EGF binding, activation, and internalization, can be labeled at a specific serine in the acyl carrier tag with a fluorophore incorporated into a 4′-phosphopantetheine (P-pant) conjugate transferred enzymatically from the corresponding CoA derivative. By measuring Förster resonance energy transfer between a molecule of Atto390 covalently attached to EGFR in this manner and a novel lipid probe NR12S distributed exclusively in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane, we determined the apparent relative separation of ectodomain I from the membrane under nonactivating and activating conditions. The data indicate that the unliganded domain I of the EGFR receptor is situated much closer to the membrane before EGF addition, supporting the model of a self-inhibited configuration of the inactive receptor in quiescent cells

The SNARE protein vti1a functions in dense-core vesicle biogenesis

Walter AM, Kurps J, de Wit H, et al. The SNARE protein vti1a functions in dense-core vesicle biogenesis. The EMBO Journal. 2014;33(15):1681-1697.The SNARE protein vti1a is proposed to drive fusion of intracellular organelles, but recent data also implicated vti1a in exocytosis. Here we show that vti1a is absent from mature secretory vesicles in adrenal chromaffin cells, but localizes to a compartment near the trans-Golgi network, partially overlapping with syntaxin-6. Exocytosis is impaired in vti1a null cells, partly due to fewer Ca2+-channels at the plasma membrane, partly due to fewer vesicles of reduced size and synaptobrevin-2 content. In contrast, release kinetics and Ca2+-sensitivity remain unchanged, indicating that the final fusion reaction leading to transmitter release is unperturbed. Additional deletion of the closest related SNARE, vti1b, does not exacerbate the vti1a phenotype, and vti1b null cells show no secretion defects, indicating that vti1b does not participate in exocytosis. Long-term re-expression of vti1a (days) was necessary for restoration of secretory capacity, whereas strong short-term expression (hours) was ineffective, consistent with vti1a involvement in an upstream step related to vesicle generation, rather than in fusion. We conclude that vti1a functions in vesicle generation and Ca2+-channel trafficking, but is dispensable for transmitter release

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate optical uncaging potentiates exocytosis

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] is essential for exocytosis. Classical ways of manipulating PI(4,5)P2 levels are slower than its metabolism, making it difficult to distinguish effects of PI(4,5)P2 from those of its metabolites. We developed a membrane-permeant, photoactivatable PI(4,5)P2, which is loaded into cells in an inactive form and activated by light, allowing sub-second increases in PI(4,5)P2 levels. By combining this compound with electrophysiological measurements in mouse adrenal chromaffin cells, we show that PI(4,5)P2 uncaging potentiates exocytosis and identify synaptotagmin-1 (the Ca2+ sensor for exocytosis) and Munc13-2 (a vesicle priming protein) as the relevant effector proteins. PI(4,5)P2 activation of exocytosis did not depend on the PI(4,5)P2-binding CAPS-proteins, suggesting that PI(4,5)P2 uncaging may bypass CAPS-function. Finally, PI(4,5)P2 uncaging triggered the rapid fusion of a subset of readily-releasable vesicles, revealing a rapid role of PI(4,5)P2 in fusion triggering. Thus, optical uncaging of signaling lipids can uncover their rapid effects on cellular processes and identify lipid effectors