Abstract
One key event in the programmed cell death is nuclear DNA fragmentation. We investigated the timing of nuclear DNA fragmentation during the cell death of short-lived ray tracheids in Pinus densiflora using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Fluorescence due to TUNEL was detected only in deformed nuclei that lacked obvious chromatin in ray tracheids that were adjacent to ray tracheids that no longer contained nuclei. Our observations revealed that nuclear DNA fragmentation occurred only at the final stage of cell death in ray tracheids in situ.
References
Courtois-Moreau CL, Pesquet E, Sjödin A, Muñiz L, Bollhöner B, Kaneda M, Samuels L, Jansson S, Tuominen H (2009) A unique program for cell death in xylem fibers of Populus stem. Plant J 58:260–274
Elmore S (2007) Apoptosis: a review of programmed cell death. Toxicol Pathol 35:495–516
Filonova LH, Bozhkov PV, Brukhin VB, Daniel G, Zhivotovsky B, von Arnold S (2000) Two waves of programmed cell death occur during formation and development of somatic embryos in the gymnosperm, Norway spruce. J Cell Sci 113:4399–4411
Fukuda H (1997) Tracheary element differentiation. Plant Cell 9:1147–1156
Fukuda H (2000) Programmed cell death of tracheary elements as a paradigm in plants. Plant Mol Biol 44:245–253
Fukuda H (2004) Signals that control plant vascular cell differentiation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 5:379–391
Funada R (2008) Microtubules and the control of wood formation. In: Nick P (ed) Plant microtubules: development and flexibility. Springer, Berlin, pp 83–119
Gavrieli Y, Sherman Y, Ben-Sasson S (1992) Identification of programmed cell death in situ via specific labeling of nuclear DNA fragmentation. J Cell Biol 119:493–501
Groover A, DeWitt N, Heidel A, Jones A (1997) Programmed cell death of plant tracheary elements differentiation in vitro. Protoplasma 196:197–211
IAWA Committee (2004) IAWA list of microscopic features for softwood identification. IAWA J 25:1–70
Kuriyama H, Fukuda H (2002) Developmental programmed cell death in plants. Curr Opin Plant Biol 5:568–573
Mittler R, Lam E (1995) In situ detection of nDNA fragmentation during the differentiation of tracheary elements in higher plants. Plant Physiol 108:489–493
Mittler R, Lam E (1997) Characterization of nuclease activities and DNA fragmentation induced upon hypersensitive response cell death and mechanical stress. Plant Mol Biol 34:209–221
Nakaba S, Sano Y, Kubo T, Funada R (2006) The positional distribution of cell death of ray parenchyma in a conifer, Abies sachalinensis. Plant Cell Rep 25:1143–1148
Nakaba S, Kubo T, Funada R (2008a) Differences in patterns of cell death between ray parenchyma cells and ray tracheids in the conifers Pinus densiflora and Pinus rigida. Trees 22:623–630
Nakaba S, Yoshimoto J, Kubo T, Funada R (2008b) Morphological changes in the cytoskeleton, nuclei, and vacuoles during cell death of short-lived ray tracheids in the conifer Pinus densiflora. J Wood Sci 54:509–514
Obara K, Kuriyama H, Fukuda H (2001) Direct evidence of active and rapid nuclear degradation triggered by vacuole rupture during programmed cell death in Zinnia. Plant Physiol 125:615–626
Saraste A, Pulkki K (2000) Morphologic and biochemical hallmarks of apoptosis. Cardiovasc Res 45:528–537
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the staff of the Field Nursery of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology for providing plant materials. This work was supported, in part, by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant numbers 199327, 2200104, 20120009 and 21380107).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakaba, S., Kubo, T. & Funada, R. Nuclear DNA fragmentation during cell death of short-lived ray tracheids in the conifer Pinus densiflora . J Plant Res 124, 379–384 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-010-0384-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-010-0384-8