| Abstract: | Primary plasmodesmata (PD) arise at cytokinesis when the new cell plate forms. During this process, fine strands of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are laid down between enlarging Golgi-derived vesicles to form nascent PD, each pore containing a desmotubule, a membranous rod derived from the cortical ER. Little is known about the forces that model the ER during cell plate formation. Here, we show that members of the reticulon (RTNLB) family of ER-tubulating proteins in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) may play a role in the formation of the desmotubule. RTNLB3 and RTNLB6, two RTNLBs present in the PD proteome, are recruited to the cell plate at late telophase, when primary PD are formed, and remain associated with primary PD in the mature cell wall. Both RTNLBs showed significant colocalization at PD with the viral movement protein of Tobacco mosaic virus, while superresolution imaging (three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy) of primary PD revealed the central desmotubule to be labeled by RTNLB6. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching studies showed that these RTNLBs are mobile at the edge of the developing cell plate, where new wall materials are being delivered, but significantly less mobile at its center, where PD are forming. A truncated RTNLB3, unable to constrict the ER, was not recruited to the cell plate at cytokinesis. We discuss the potential roles of RTNLBs in desmotubule formation.Plasmodesmata (PD), the small pores that connect higher plant cells, are complex structures of about 50 nm in diameter. Each PD pore is lined by the plasma membrane and contains an axial endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived structure known as the desmotubule (Overall and Blackman, 1996; Maule, 2008; Tilsner et al., 2011). The desmotubule is an enigmatic structure whose function has not been fully elucidated. The small spiraling space between the desmotubule and the plasma membrane, known as the cytoplasmic sleeve, is almost certainly a conduit for the movement of small molecules (Oparka et al., 1999). Some reports, however, suggest that the desmotubule may also function in cell-to-cell trafficking, providing an ER-derived pathway between cells along which macromolecules may diffuse (Cantrill et al., 1999). The desmotubule is one of the most tightly constricted membrane structures found in nature (Tilsner et al., 2011), but the forces that generate its intense curvature are not understood. In most PD, the desmotubule is a tightly furled tube of about 15 nm in diameter in which the membranes of the ER are in close contact along its length. The desmotubule may balloon out in the region of the middle lamella into a central cavity, but at the neck regions of the PD pore it is tightly constricted (Robinson-Beers and Evert, 1991; Ding et al., 1992; Glockmann and Kollmann, 1996; Overall and Blackman, 1996; Ehlers and Kollmann, 2001). Studies of PD using GFP targeted to the ER lumen (e.g. GFP-HDEL) have shown that GFP is excluded from the desmotubule due to the constriction of ER membranes in this structure (Oparka et al., 1999; Crawford and Zambryski, 2000; Martens et al., 2006; Guenoune-Gelbart et al., 2008). Therefore, lumenal GFP is unable to move between plant cells unless the membranes of the desmotubule become relaxed in some way. On the other hand, dyes and some proteins inserted into the ER membrane can apparently move through the desmotubule, either along the membrane or through the lumen, at least under some conditions (Grabski et al., 1993; Cantrill et al., 1999; Martens et al., 2006; Guenoune-Gelbart et al., 2008).Recently, a number of proteins have been described in mammalian, yeast, and plant systems that induce extreme membrane curvature. Among these are the RETICULONS (RTNs), integral membrane proteins that induce curvature of the ER to form tubules (Voeltz et al., 2006; Hu et al., 2008; Tolley et al., 2008, 2010; Sparkes et al., 2010). In animals, RTNs have been shown to be involved in a wide array of endomembrane-related processes, including intracellular transport and vesicle formation, and as RTNs can also influence axonal growth, they may have roles in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (Yang and Strittmatter, 2007). Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) has 21 RTN homologs, known as RTNLBs (Nziengui et al., 2007; Sparkes et al., 2010), considerably more than in yeast or mammals, but most have not been examined. RTNLBs contain two unusually long hydrophobic helices that form reentrant loops (Voeltz et al., 2006; Hu et al., 2008; Sparkes et al., 2010; Tolley et al., 2010). These are thought to induce membrane curvature by the molecular wedge principle (Hu et al., 2008; Shibata et al., 2009). When RTNLBs are overexpressed transiently in cells expressing GFP-HDEL, the ER becomes tightly constricted and GFP-HDEL is excluded from the lumen of the constricted ER tubules (Tolley et al., 2008, 2010), a situation similar to that which occurs in desmotubules (Oparka et al., 1999; Crawford and Zambryski, 2000; Martens et al., 2006). In vitro studies with isolated membranes have shown that the degree of tubulation is proportional to the number and spacing of RTNLB proteins in the membrane (Hu et al., 2008). For example, to constrict the ER membrane into a structure of 15 nm, the diameter of a desmotubule, would require RTNLBs to be inserted every 2 nm or less along the desmotubule axis (Hu et al., 2008), potentially making the desmotubule an extremely protein-rich structure (Tilney et al., 1991). Interestingly, a number of RTNLB proteins appear in the recently described PD proteome (Fernandez-Calvino et al., 2011), suggesting that RTNLBs are good candidates for proteins that model the cortical ER into desmotubules.Primary PD form at cytokinesis during the assembly of the cell plate (Hawes et al., 1981; Hepler, 1982). Of the numerous studies devoted to the structure of the cell plate, very few have examined the behavior of the ER during cytokinesis. During mitosis, elements of the ER are located in the spindle apparatus, separated from the cytoplasm (Hepler, 1980). Just prior to cytokinesis, there is a relative paucity of ER in the region destined to become the cell plate (Hepler, 1980; Hawes et al., 1981). The studies of Hawes et al. (1981) and Hepler (1982), exploiting heavy-metal impregnation of the ER, showed that during the formation of the new cell plate, strands of cortical ER are inserted across the developing wall, between the Golgi-derived vesicles that deposit wall materials. These ER strands become increasingly thinner during formation of the desmotubule, eventually excluding heavy metal stains from the ER lumen (Hepler, 1982). The center of the desmotubule often appears electron opaque in transmission electron microscopy images and has been referred to as the central rod (Overall and Blackman, 1996). This structure may consist of proteins that extend from the inner ER leaflets or may correspond to head groups of the membrane lipids themselves. In the fully formed primary PD, the desmotubule remains continuous with the cortical ER that runs close to the new cell wall (Hawes et al., 1981; Hepler, 1982; Oparka et al., 1994).Here, we show that two of the RTNLBs present in the PD proteome, RTNLB3 and RTNLB6, become localized to the cell plate during the formation of primary PD. These RTNLBs remain associated with the desmotubule in fully formed PD and are immobile, as evidenced by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) studies. A truncated version of RTNLB3, in which the second hydrophobic region was deleted (Sparkes et al., 2010), was not recruited to the cell plate at cytokinesis. We suggest that RTNLBs play an important role in the formation of primary PD and discuss mechanisms by which these proteins may model the ER into desmotubules. |
