Name: real-time imaging of plant cell surface dynamics with variable-angle epifluorescence microscopy
Uploaded: 2015-12-12T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Real-time Imaging of Plant Cell Surface Dynamics with Variable-angle Epifluorescence Microscopy at JoVE.com

I am grateful to Dr. Masaru Fujimoto for his technical suggestions for VAEM. I am also grateful to Prof. Koh Iba and Dr. Mimi Hashimoto-Sugimoto for providing GFP-PATROL1 transgenic plants, and discussions about PATROL1. I thank Prof. Seiichiro Hasezawa for his continuing support of my work. This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI grant number 25711017.

1. Preparation of Seedlings
<ol>
	<li>Sterilize the seeds.
	<ol>
		<li>Prepare the sterilization solution by adding 500 &#181;l NaClO (available chlorine: 5.0%) and 1 &#181;l 10% Triton X-100 to 500 &#181;l sterile water.</li>
		<li>Place ca. 10 transgenic A. thaliana seeds carrying GFP-PATROL18 into a 1.5-ml tube.</li>
		<li>Add 1 ml 70% ethanol solution, and mix well by inverting five times. Leave for 1 min.</li>
		<li>Observe the seeds sink to the bottom of the tube. In a clean laminar f...

<ol>
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In this video article, protocols are given for monitoring and measuring the dynamic behavior of GFP-PATROL1 dots on the stomatal complex of Arabidopsis thaliana. As shown here, VAEM observation is a powerful tool for live imaging of plant cell surfaces. Under the experimental conditions used here for GFP-PATROL1 monitoring, there was very little fluorescence photobleaching in the sample used for 1 min of video capture, because the highly sensitive EM-CCD permits the use of a relatively weak excitation laser in V...

The plant cell surface, including the plasma membrane and its immediately adjacent cytoplasm, is the main region of a plant cell&#8217;s perception and integration of biotic and abiotic cues from the extracellular environment. In response to these cues, cell surface components including plasma membrane proteins and the cortical cytoskeleton undergo dynamic changes, on a time scale of seconds to minutes1-4. Thus, real-time and high-resolution imaging of fluorescent proteins on the cell surface can illuminate a plant&#8217;s responses to environmental cues at the molecular level.
Confocal laser scanning microscopy is a powerful tool for determination of fluorescently-tagged protein localization3, however, it is often difficult to monitor the real-time protein dynamics because of its relatively long capturing times. An emerging technique for real-time monitoring of proteins in the plant cell is variable angle epifluorescence microscopy (VAEM), which is an adaptation of equipment usually used for total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. In TIRF microscopy, the fluorescence-excitation light source is an evanescent light field that is generated when the entry angle of the laser is shallow enough to totally internally reflect light at the glass&#8211;water interface. The penetration depth of the evanescent light field is around 100 nm. TIRF microscopy is an outstanding tool for single molecule imaging, such as the detection of exocytosis in animal cells5. However, evanescent light cannot reach plasma membranes or the cortical cytoplasm in plant cells, because they have thick cell walls. Recently, TIRF microscopy equipment has been adapted by plant cell biologists, observing that a laser, if angled slightly more deeply than when being used to induce total internal reflection phenomena, could excite the surface of plant cell samples, resulting in high-quality plant cell imaging6,7. The excitation illumination depth is varied by adjusting the entry angle of the laser; therefore, this technique is described as VAEM. This optical system is also called variable angle TIRF microscopy (VA-TIRFM) because there is a possibility that total reflection may take place at the cell wall-periplasm interface7, however, the term VAEM is used in this article, as per the first report in plants6.
The goal of this protocol is to demonstrate practical procedures for using VAEM to visualize fluorescently-tagged protein dynamics on plant cell surfaces. Additionally, an image analysis protocol to quantify the residence time (duration of presence) of molecules is described for VAEM movie analysis. GFP-PATROL1 dot blinking on stomatal complex cells in Arabidopsis thaliana cotyledons is used as an example. PATROL1 was identified by forward genetic approaches as a causal gene of a stomatal response defect mutant in A. thaliana8. PATROL1 is a plant homolog of MUNC-13, which is a priming factor in synapse vesicle exocytosis8. In response to environmental cues, such as light or humidity, it is thought that PATROL1 reversibly regulates the delivery of a proton pump to plasma membranes in the stomatal complex. Stomatal complexes each comprise a pair of guard cells8 and subsidiary cells9, and they require a proton pump for stomatal movement. In these cells, GFP-tagged PATROL1 localizes to dot-like structures that remain on the plasma membrane for less than 1 min9.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="573">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">Inverted microscope</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">IX-73</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">TIRF unit</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">IX3-RFAEVAW</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">TIRF objective lens&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">UAPON 100 &#215; OTIRF&#160;</td>
			<td>NA = 1.49</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Laser angle control box</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Chuo Seiki</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">QT-AK</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="64">
			<td height="64" style="height:64px;width:216px;">Optically pumped semiconductor laser</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Coherent</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">SapphireTM LP USB 488-20 CDRH Laser</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">510&#8211;550 nm band-pass filter</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">U-FBNA</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="63">
			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">EM CCD camera</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Hamamatsu Photonics</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">ImagEM C9100-13</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">C-mount camera magnification change unit&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">U-TVCAC</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">MetaMorph software</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Molecular Devices</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">MetaMorph version 7.7.11.0</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="105">
			<td height="105" style="height:105px;width:216px;">TIRF microscopy manual</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">AX7385</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">Instructions: Total Internal Reflection Illumination System (Printed in Japan on August 24, 2012)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Immersion oil</td>
			<td style="width:71px;">Olympus</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Immersion Oil Typr-F</td>
			<td>ne = 1.518 (23 degrees)</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

real-time imaging of plant cell surface dynamics with variable-angle epifluorescence microscopy

A plant&#8217;s cell surface is its interface for perceiving environmental cues; it responds with cell biological changes such as membrane trafficking and cytoskeletal rearrangement. Real-time and high-resolution image analysis of such intracellular events will increase the understanding of plant cell biology at the molecular level. Variable angle epifluorescence microscopy (VAEM) is an emerging technique that provides high-quality, time-lapse images of fluorescently-labeled proteins on the plant cell surface. In this article, practical procedures are described for VAEM specimen preparation, adjustment of the VAEM optical system, movie capturing and image analysis. As an example of VAEM observation, representative results are presented on the dynamics of PATROL1. This is a protein essential for stomatal movement, thought to be involved in proton pump delivery to plasma membranes in the stomatal complex of Arabidopsis thaliana. VAEM real-time observation of guard cells and subsidiary cells in A. thaliana cotyledons showed that fluorescently-tagged PATROL1 appeared as dot-like structures on plasma membranes for several seconds and then disappeared. Kymograph analysis of VAEM movie data determined the time distribution of the presence (termed &#8216;residence time&#8217;) of the dot-like structures. The use of VAEM is discussed in the context of this example.

In this video article, the protocols for VAEM observation of GFP-PATROL1 in A. thaliana cotyledon stomatal complex cells are provided. Sky drop mounting is a simple preparation method that may help reduce the occurrence of air bubbles in VAEM preparations of A. thaliana cotyledons (Figure 1). Overtilting of the entry laser and/or z-positioning of specimens for VAEM will provide an unclear image. If that happens, it is recommended to start again from a position immediately above the samp...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Real-time Imaging of Plant Cell Surface Dynamics with Variable-angle Epifluorescence Microscopy at JoVE.com

Real-time Imaging of Plant Cell Surface Dynamics with Variable-angle Epifluorescence Microscopy

The goal of this protocol is to demonstrate how to monitor fluorescently-tagged protein dynamics on plant cell surfaces with variable-angle epifluorescence microscopy, showing blinking dots of GFP-tagged PATROL1, a membrane trafficking protein, in the cell cortex of the stomatal complex in Arabidopsis thaliana.

A plant&#8217;s cell surface is its interface for perceiving environmental cues; it responds with cell biological changes such as membrane trafficking and ...

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