We describe a highly efficient two-step single-cell reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction technique for analyzing gene expression at the single-cell level. Good reproducibility and a linear dose response indicated that the technique has high specificity and sensitivity for detection and quantification of rare RNA. Actin could be used as an internal standard. The expression of message ...

Serine hydroxymethyltransferases (SHMs) are important enzymes of cellular one-carbon metabolism and are essential for the photorespiratory glycine-into-serine conversion in leaf mesophyll mitochondria. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), SHM1 has been identified as the photorespiratory isozyme, but little is known about the very similar SHM2. Although the mitochondrial location of SHM2 can b...

The tissue distributions of dhurrin [p-hydroxy-(S)-mandelonitrile-beta-d-glucoside] and of enzymes involved in its metabolism have been investigated in leaf blades of light-grown Sorghum bicolor seedlings. Enzymic digestion of these leaves using cellulase has enabled preparations of epidermal and mesophyll protoplasts and bundle sheath strands to be isolated with only minor cross-contamination....

The fact that chlorophyll-containing chloroplasts are remarkably abundant organelles in plants is obvious to anyone contemplating the verdant green expanses of most global ecosystems. For those who have viewed leaf mesophyll cells by peering down a microscope, it is also apparent that these specialized cells can contain large numbers of chloroplasts—up to 200 in some cells—and that chloroplasts...

The leaf mine in Richterago riparia is caused by a lepidopteran larva (lepidopteronome). The leaves of R. riparia show campdodrome venation; the epidermis is unistratified, with stomata and glandular trichomes in adaxial and abaxial surfaces. The mesophyll is bilateral and the vascular system is collateral. During the formation of the mine, the larva consumes the chlorenchyma of the mesophyll a...

Ion channels control ion fluxes across membranes, membrane potential, and signal transduction between and within cells. Protein kinases and phosphatases are important regulators involved in stimulus-response coupling in eukaryotic organisms. We have identified in extracts of Vicia faba leaf cells protein phosphatase activities inhibited by okadaic acid (OA) and calyculin A (CA), two inhibitors ...

In many species, Suc en route out of the leaf migrates from photosynthetically active mesophyll cells into the phloem down its concentration gradient via plasmodesmata, i.e. symplastically. In some of these plants, the process is entirely passive, but in others phloem Suc is actively converted into larger sugars, raffinose and stachyose, and segregated (trapped), thus raising total phloem sugar...

BACKGROUND Polyhydroxyalkanoates are linear biodegradable polyesters produced by bacteria as a carbon store and used to produce a range of bioplastics. Widespread polyhydroxyalkanoate production in C4 crops would decrease petroleum dependency by producing a renewable supply of biodegradable plastics along with residual biomass that could be converted into biofuels or energy. Increasing yields t...

Intact mesophyll and bundle sheath chloroplasts wee isolated from the NADP-malic enzyme type C(4) plants maize, sorghum (monocots), and Flaveria trinervia (dicot) using enzymic digestion and mechanical isolation techniques. Bundle sheath chloroplasts of this C(4) subgroup tend to be agranal and were previously reported to be deficient in photosystem II activity. However, following injection of ...

Halophytes species can be used as a highly convenient model system to reveal key ionic and molecular mechanisms that confer salinity tolerance in plants. Earlier, we reported that quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), a facultative C3 halophyte species, can efficiently control the activity of slow (SV) and fast (FV) tonoplast channels to match specific growth conditions by ensuring that most of a...