Tissue Printing as a Tool for Observing Immunological and Protein Profiles in Young and Mature Celery Petioles

Tissue printing onto membranes such as nitrocellulose is a technique employed to study the localization of proteins, nucleic acids, and soluble metabolites from freshly cut tissue slices. We probed tissue prints of young and mature celery (Apium graveolens) petioles with antibodies raised against two proteins, spinach ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase and tomato fruit catalase. The purposes of this study were to determine if these proteins are developmentally regulated and to determine if the patterns and intensities of cross-reactivity of antibodies on tissue blots corresponded only to the presence of specific epitopes or was related to the amount of protein present in any given area on the tissue prints. Different and distinct cross-reactivity patterns were observed with each of the two antibodies used. Tissue prints from young and mature tissues also showed differences in antibody cross-reactivity. Comparison of Coomassie blue staining patterns with antibody reactivity patterns showed that there is little relationship between tissue protein concentration and antibody reactivity.