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The plant nucleus in mycorrhizal roots: positional and structural modifications
Author(s) -
Balestrini Raffaella,
Berta Graziella,
Bonfante Paola
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
biology of the cell
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.543
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1768-322X
pISSN - 0248-4900
DOI - 10.1016/0248-4900(92)90145-q
Subject(s) - biology , chromatin , nucleus , parenchyma , microbiology and biotechnology , symbiosis , glomus , morphogenesis , cell nucleus , prophase , botany , gene , meiosis , genetics , bacteria , spore
Summary— Positional and structural modifications were demonstrated in nuclei of leek cells, after establishment of a symbiosis with two vesicular‐arbuscular fungi, Glomus versiforme and Glomus E 3 . By combining light, immuno‐electron microscopy and morphometry, the fungi were shown to have a direct effect on the host nuclear morphology: the effect was confined to a specific plant tissue (the cortical parenchyma) and to a moment of the fungal morphogenesis (the arbuscule). When they branch to form the complex structures called arbuscules in the inner parenchyma cells, the host nucleus migrates from the periphery of these cells towards their centre. In addition, it becomes larger and lobed, with a decondensed chromatin. A monoclonal antibody that mostly binds to the condensed chromatin revealed a significant decrease in gold labelling intensity over the nuclei of the colonized cells. These modifications suggest that the nuclear migration and the changes in chromatin organization are related to the modifications in gene expression observed during the establishment of mycorrhizal symbiosis.