Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T03:04:47.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nuclear proteins and the onset of cell proliferation in root meristems of Pisum sativum: QP47 a novel acidic protein

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

Donato Chiatante*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Animali, Vegetali e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi del Molise, via Cavour 50, Campobasso, Italy
Elisabetta Onelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze Animali, Vegetali e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi del Molise, via Cavour 50, Campobasso, Italy
*
* Correspondence

Abstract

A protein named QP47 has been purified from quiescent nuclei of root meristems of Pisum sativum, and used to prepare a polyclonal antibody. Immunolocalization of this protein with fluorescent probes revealed a nuclear distribution of thread-like structures. However, the relationship between the distribution of QP47 immunofluorescence and the structural organization of the chromatin required further investigation. The decrease in content of this protein in the nuclei of embryo cells seems to be correlated with the transition from quiescence to proliferation. QP47 degradation seems to depend upon an increase in the state of its phosphorylation. This protein is not present in normally proliferating cells, or in cells whose cell proliferation has been arrested by starvation or differentiation. It is hypothesized that QP47 may be required specifically during the quiescent period for specific structural organization of the chromatin.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baluška, F. (1990) Nuclear size, DNA content, and chromatin condensation are different in individual tissues of the maize root apex. Protoplasma 158, 4552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, P. W. (1985) Nuclear chromatin structure in relation to cell differentiation and cell activation in the cap and quiescent centre of Zea mays. Journal of Experimental Botany 36, 14921503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bewley, J. D. and Black, M. (1982) Physiology and biochemistry of seed in relation to germination. Vol. 2. Berlin, Springer–Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiatante, D., Brusa, P., Levi, M. and Sparvoli, E. (1991a) Nuclear proteins during the onset of cell proliferation in pea root meristems. Journal of Experimental Botany 42, 4550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiatante, D., Brusa, P., Levi, M. and Sparvoli, E. (1991b) Phosphorylation of nuclear proteins and proliferation in root meristems of pea (Pisum sativum). Plant Science 75, 3946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiatante, D., Brusa, P., Levi, M., Sgorbati, S. and Sparvoli, E. (1990) A simple protocol to purify fresh nuclei from milligram amounts of meristematic pea root tissue for biochemical and flow cytometry application. Physiologia Plantarum 78, 501506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deltour, R. (1985) Nuclear activation during early germination of the higher plant embryos. Journal of Cell Science 75, 4383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrard, W. T. (1991) Histone H1 and the conformation of transcriptionally active chromatin. BioEssays 13, 8788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grellet, F., Delseny, M. and Guitton, Y. (1977) Histone content of germinating pea embryo chromatin decreases as DNA replicates. Nature 257, 724726.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Havelange, A. and Jeanny, J. C. (1984) Changes in density of chromatin in meristematic cells of Sinapis alba during transition to flowering. Protoplasma 122, 222232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivanov, P. V. and Zlatanova, J. S. (1989) Quantitative changes in histone content of the cytoplasm and the nucleus of germinating maize embryo cells. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry (Paris) 27, 925930.Google Scholar
Levi, M., Pasini, E., Brusa, P., Chiatante, D., Sgorbati, S. and Sparvoli, E. (1991) Culture of pea embryo axes for studies on the reactivation of the cell cycle at germination. In vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology 28P, 2024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, D. J. (1983) Biochemical control systems operating in the early hours of germination. Canadian Journal of Botany 61, 35683577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, D. J., Dell' Aquila, A. and Elder, R. (1984) DNA repair in plant cells. An essential event of early germination in seeds. Folia Biologica, (Special publication) Proceedings, FEBS Symposium on DNA, pp 155169.Google Scholar
Roth, S. Y. and Allis, C. D. (1992) Chromatin condensation: does histone H1 dephosphorylation play a role? Trends in Biological Sciences 17, 9398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sgorbati, S., Sparvoli, E., Levi, M. and Chiatante, D. (1989) Bivariate cytofluorimetric analysis of nuclear protein and DNA relative to cell kinetics during germination of Pisum sativum seed. Physiologia Plantarum 75, 479484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. R. (1981) DNA supercoiling; another level for regulating gene expression. Cell 24, 599600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spelsberg, T. C. and Sarkissian, I. V. (1968) Isolation and electrophoresis of nuclear proteins of bean. Phytochemistry 7, 20832088.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spelsberg, T. C. and Sarkissian, I. V. (1970) Isolation and analysis of the proteins of plant nuclei from two stages of differentiation of Phaseolus vulgaris. Phytochemistry 9, 13851391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoilov, L., Mirkova, V. and Zlatanova, J. (1989) Transcriptional activity and DNA supercoiling during early germination in maize. Plant Science 63, 5966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolffe, A. P. (1990) New approaches to chromatin function. New Biologist 2, 211218.Google ScholarPubMed
Zlatanova, J. S., Ivanov, P. V., Stoilov, L. M., Chimishirova, K. V. and Stanchev, B. S. (1987) DNA repair precedes replicative synthesis during early germination in maize. Plant Molecular Biology 10, 139144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed