Name: kinematic analysis of cell division and expansion: quantifying the cellular basis of growth and sampling developmental zones in zea mays leaves
Uploaded: 2016-12-02T11:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Kinematic Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion: Quantifying the Cellular Basis of Growth and Sampling Developmental Zones in Zea mays Leaves at JoVE.com

This work was supported by a PhD fellowship from the University of Antwerp to V.A.; a PhD fellowship from the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO, 11ZI916N) to K.S.; project grants from the FWO (G0D0514N); a concerted research activity (GOA) research grant, &#34;A Systems Biology Approach of Leaf Morphogenesis&#34; from the research council of the University of Antwerp; and the Interuniversity Attraction Poles (IUAP VII/29, MARS), &#34;Maize and Arabidopsis Root and Shoot Growth&#34; from the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) to G.T.S.B. Han Asard, Bulelani L. Sizani and Hamada AbdElgawad all contributed to the video.

NOTE: The following protocol for kinematic analysis is only valid for leaves during steady-state growth. This implies a stable leaf elongation rate and spatial patterns of cell length and expansion in a leaf during a period of several days6.
1. Plant Growth and Measurements of Leaf Elongation Rate (LER)
<ol>
	<li>Choose a leaf in steady-state growth and a developmental stage of interest. 
	NOTE: There is a difference between steady-state growth and repetitive growth,...

A full kinematic analysis on maize leaves enables the determination of the cellular basis of leaf growth and allows for the design of efficient sampling strategies. Although the protocol is relatively straightforward, some caution is recommended in the following critical steps: (1) It is important to detach the younger, enclosed leaves (step 2.3) without damaging the meristem, since meristem length determination (step 3) requires the complete meristem to be present. Some practice beforehand might be needed. (2) Meristema...

Growth analysis depends on a set of tools that are commonly used by plant scientists to describe genotype determined growth differences and/or phenotypic responses to environmental factors. They include size and weight measurements of the whole plant or an organ and calculations of growth rates to explore the underlying mechanisms of growth. Organ growth is determined by cell division and expansion at the cellular level. Therefore, including the quantification of these two processes in growth analyses is key to understanding differences in whole-organ growth1. Consequently, it is crucial to have an appropriate methodology to determine cellular growth parameters that is relatively easy to use by non-specialized laboratories.
Kinematic analysis has already been established as an approach providing a powerful framework for the development of organ growth models2. The technique has been optimized for linear systems, such as Arabidopsis thaliana roots and monocotyledonous leaves, but also for non-linear systems, such as dicotyledonous leaves3. Nowadays, this methodology is increasingly being used to study how genetic, hormonal, developmental, and environmental factors influence cell division and expansion in various organs (Table 1). Moreover, it also provides a framework to link cellular processes to their underlying biochemical, molecular, and physiological regulations (Table 2), although limitations can be imposed by organ size and spatial organization for techniques that require higher amounts of plant material (e.g., metabolite measurements, proteomics, etc.).
Monocotyledonous leaves, such as the maize (Zea mays) leaf, represent linear systems in which cells move from the base of the leaf towards the tip, sequentially passing through the meristem and elongation zone to reach the mature zone. This makes it an ideal model system for quantitative studies of the spatial patterns of growth4. Moreover, maize leaves have large growth zones (meristem and elongation zone spanning several centimeters5) and provide possibilities for studies at other organizational levels. This allows for the investigation of the (putative) regulatory mechanisms controlling cell division and expansion, quantified by kinematic analysis through a range of molecular techniques, physiological measurements, and cell biology approaches (Table 2).
Here, we provide a protocol for performing a kinematic analysis in monocot leaves. First, we explain how to conduct a proper analysis of both cell division and cell elongation as a function of position along the leaf axis and how to calculate kinematic parameters. Secondly, we also show how this can be used as a basis for sampling design. Here, we discuss two cases: high-resolution sampling and focused sampling, enabling improved data interpretation and the saving of time/money, respectively.
Table 1. Overview of kinematic analyses methods for quantification of cell division and expansion in various organs.
<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>organ</td>
			<td>reference</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>monocotyledonous leaves</td>
			<td>16, 20, 21, 22</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>root tips</td>
			<td>2, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>dicotyledonous leaves</td>
			<td>21, 30, 31</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>shoot apical meristem</td>
			<td>32</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>
Table 1. Overview of kinematic analyses methods for quantification of cell division and expansion in various organs.
<img alt="Figure 3" src="/files/ftp_upload/54887/54887table2.jpg" />
Table 2. Link between cellular processes quantified by the kinematic analysis to their regulation at the molecular level. References to various studies linking the quantification of cellular processes to results from biochemical and molecular assays in various species and organs. Xyloglucan endotransglucosylase (XET), malondialdehyde (MDA), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK). <a href="http://cloudflare.jove.com/files/ftp_upload/54887/54887table2large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this table.</a>

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="1670">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Pots</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">We use pots with the following measueres, but can be different depending on the treatment/study : bottom diameter: 11cm, opening diameter: 15 cm, height: 12 cm. We grow one maize plant per pot.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Planting substrate</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td>We use potting medium (Jiffy, The Netherlands), but other substrates can be used, depending on treatment/study.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Ruler</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td>An extension ruler that covers at least 1,5 meters is needed to measure the final leaf length of the plants.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Seeds&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">NA</td>
			<td>Seeds can be ordered from a breeder.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Scalpel</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">The scalpel is used during leaf harvesting to detach the leaf of interest from its surrounding leaves and right after harvesting to cut a proper sample for cell length and meristem length measurements.&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">15 ml falcon tubes</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">The 15 ml falcon tubes are used for storing samples used for cell length measurements during sample clearing with absolute ethanol and lactic acid.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Eppendorf tubes</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">The eppendorf tubes are used for storing samples used for meristem length measurements in ethanol:acetic acid 3:1 (v:v) solution.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Gloves</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td>Latex gloves, which protect against corrosive reagents.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Acetic acid</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">CAUTION: Corrosive to metals, category 1 Skin corrosion, categories 1A,1B,1C Serious eye damage, category 1; Flammable liquids, categories 1,2,3</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Absolute ethanol</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">CAUTION: Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of inhalation. Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact (permeator), of ingestion</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Lactic acid &#62;98%</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td>CAUTION: Corrosive to metals, category 1 Skin corrosion, categories 1A,1B,1C Serious eye damage, category 1</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Sodium chloride (NaCl)</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">CAUTION: Acute toxicity (oral, dermal, inhalation), category 4 Skin irritation, category 2 Eye irritation, category 2 Skin sensitisation, category 1 Specific Target Organ Toxicity &#8211; Single exposure, category 3</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane hydrochloride (Tris-HCl)</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">This material can be an irritant, contact with eyes and skin should be avoided. Inhalation of dust may be irritating to the respiratory tract.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">4&#8242;,6-Diamidine-2&#8242;-phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI)</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">Cell permeable fluorescent minor groove-binding probe for DNA. Causes skin irritation. May cause an allergic skin reaction. May cause respiratory irritation.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Ice</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">NA</td>
			<td>The DAPI solution has to be kept on ice.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Fluorescent microscope</td>
			<td>AxioScope A1, Axiocam ICm1 from Zeiss or other</td>
			<td style="width:209px;"></td>
			<td>Any fluorescent microscope can be used for determining meristem length.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Microscopic slide</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Cover glass</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Tweezers</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">Any</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">Tweezers are needed for unfolding the rolled maize leaf right after harvesting in order to cut a proper sample for cell length and meristem length measurements.&#160;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:315px;">Image-analysis software</td>
			<td>Axiovision (Release 4.8) from Zeiss</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">NA</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">The software can be downloaded at: http://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/en_de/downloads/axiovision.html. Other softwares such as ImageJ (https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/) could be used as well.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">Microscope equipped with DIC</td>
			<td>AxioScope A1, Axiocam ICm1 from Zeiss or other</td>
			<td style="width:209px;"></td>
			<td>Any&#160; microscope, equipped with differential interference contrast (DIC) can be used to measure cell lengths.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:315px;">R statistical analysis software</td>
			<td>R Foundation for Statistical Computing</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">NA</td>
			<td>Open source; Could be downloaded at https://www.r-project.org/</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="63">
			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:315px;">R script</td>
			<td style="width:333px;">NA</td>
			<td style="width:209px;">NA</td>
			<td style="width:813px;">We use the kernel smoothing function locpoly of the Kern Smooth package (Wand MP, Jones MC.&#160; Kernel Smoothing: Chapman &#38; Hall/CRC (1995)). The script is available for Mac and Windows upon inquire with the corresponding author. We have versions for Mac and Windows.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

kinematic analysis of cell division and expansion: quantifying the cellular basis of growth and sampling developmental zones in zea mays leaves

Growth analyses are often used in plant science to investigate contrasting genotypes and the effect of environmental conditions. The cellular aspect of these analyses is of crucial importance, because growth is driven by cell division and cell elongation. Kinematic analysis represents a methodology to quantify these two processes. Moreover, this technique is easy to use in non-specialized laboratories. Here, we present a protocol for performing a kinematic analysis in monocotyledonous maize (Zea mays) leaves. Two aspects are presented: (1) the quantification of cell division and expansion parameters, and (2) the determination of the location of the developmental zones. This could serve as a basis for sampling design and/or could be useful for data interpretation of biochemical and molecular measurements with high spatial resolution in the leaf growth zone. The growth zone of maize leaves is harvested during steady-state growth. Individual leaves are used for meristem length determination using a DAPI stain and cell-length profiles using DIC microscopy. The protocol is suited for emerged monocotyledonous leaves harvested during steady-state growth, with growth zones spanning at least several centimeters. To improve the understanding of plant growth regulation, data on growth and molecular studies must be combined. Therefore, an important advantage of kinematic analysis is the possibility to correlate changes at the molecular level to well-defined stages of cellular development. Furthermore, it allows for a more focused sampling of specified developmental stages, which is useful in case of limited budget or time.

Here, we show a comparison between well-watered plants (control, 54% soil water content, (SWC)) and plants subjected to drought stress conditions (drought, 34% SWC) in terms of their leaf growth. All plants were grown in a growth chamber under controlled conditions (16 hr day/8 hr night, 25 &#176;C/18 &#176;C day/night, 300-400 &#181;Em-2sec-1 photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The drought conditions were established by withholding water until the correct SWC...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Kinematic Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion: Quantifying the Cellular Basis of Growth and Sampling Developmental Zones in Zea mays Leaves at JoVE.com

Kinematic Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion: Quantifying the Cellular Basis of Growth and Sampling Developmental Zones in Zea mays Leaves

Quantifying cell division and expansion is of crucial importance to the understanding of whole-plant growth. Here, we present a protocol to calculate cellular parameters determining maize leaf growth rates and highlight the use of these data for investigating molecular growth regulatory mechanisms by directing developmental stage-specific sampling strategies.

Kinematic Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion: Quantifying the Cellular Basis of Growth and Sampling Developmental Zones in Zea mays Leaves

Growth analyses are often used in plant science to investigate contrasting genotypes and the effect of environmental conditions. The cellular aspect of ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

Video Bioinformatics Analysis of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Colony Growth

Because video data are complex and are comprised of many images, mining information from video material is difficult to do without the aid of computer ...

A System for ex vivo Culturing of Embryonic Pancreas

A System for ex vivo Culturing of Embryonic Pancreas

The pancreas controls vital functions of our body,  including the production of digestive enzymes and regulation of blood sugar  levels1. Although in the ...

Live Cell Cycle Analysis of Drosophila Tissues using the Attune Acoustic Focusing Cytometer and Vybrant DyeCycle Violet DNA Stain

Live Cell Cycle Analysis of Drosophila Tissues using the Attune Acoustic Focusing Cytometer and Vybrant DyeCycle Violet DNA Stain

Flow cytometry has  been widely used to obtain information about DNA content in a population of  cells, to infer relative percentages in different cell ...

Cytological Analysis of Spermatogenesis: Live and Fixed Preparations of Drosophila Testes

Cytological Analysis of Spermatogenesis: Live and Fixed Preparations of Drosophila Testes

Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful model system that has been widely used to elucidate a variety of biological processes. For example, studies of both ...

Isolation and Physiological Analysis of Mouse Cardiomyocytes

Cardiomyocytes, the workhorse cell of the heart, contain exquisitely organized cytoskeletal and contractile elements that generate the contractile force ...

Reconstitution Of &#946;-catenin Degradation In Xenopus Egg Extract

Reconstitution Of ÃƒÅ½Ã‚Â²-catenin Degradation In Xenopus Egg Extract

Xenopus laevis egg extract is a well-characterized, robust system for studying the biochemistry of diverse cellular processes. Xenopus egg extract has ...

Tracking and Quantifying Developmental Processes in C. elegans Using Open-source Tools

Tracking and Quantifying Developmental Processes in C. elegans Using Open-source Tools

Quantitatively capturing developmental processes is crucial to derive mechanistic models and key to identify and describe mutant phenotypes. Here ...

A Morphometric and Cellular Analysis Method for the Murine Mandibular Condyle

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) has the capacity to adapt to external stimuli, and loading changes can affect the position of condyles, as well as the ...

Analysis of Beta-cell Function Using Single-cell Resolution Calcium Imaging in Zebrafish Islets

Pancreatic beta-cells respond to increasing blood glucose concentrations by secreting the hormone insulin. The dysfunction of beta-cells leads to ...

Pupal and Adult Injections for RNAi and CRISPR Gene Editing in Nasonia vitripennis

Pupal and Adult Injections for RNAi and CRISPR Gene Editing in Nasonia vitripennis

The jewel wasp, Nasonia vitripennis, has become an efficient model system to study epigenetics of haplo-diploid sex determination, B-chromosome biology, ...