Actomyosin is involved in the plasmolytic cycle: gliding movement of the deplasmolyzing protoplast

Summary.  The leaf cells of Chlorophytum comosum seem to have the ability to regulate their protoplast volume and shape during the plasmolytic cycle. This phenomenon was morphologically expressed by the stabilization of the plasmolyzed protoplast volume and shape within 1–5 min after the immersion of the leaf segments in the plasmolytic fluid and temporarily at the onset of deplasmolysis. During the latter stage the plasmolyzed protoplast rounded up and assumed a perfectly convex shape and glided into the cell lumen along the cell axis. This gliding movement was active, nonsaltatory, and conducted with a constant velocity and lasted for a short time. During this movement the protoplast volume did not change appreciably. As far as we know, this movement has not been described so far. Deplasmolysis proceeded and was rapidly completed when the protoplast stopped moving. Leaf cells which have been affected by an antiactin filament drug or myosin inhibitors lost their ability to regulate the volume and shape of the plasmolyzing protoplast. In addition, the gliding protoplast movement was also inhibited in the treated cells. These data show for the first time that the actomyosin system is involved in the mechanism of volume regulation during the plasmolytic cycle and that it underlies the gliding movement of the deplasmolyzing protoplast. Received June 3, 2002; accepted September 26, 2002; published online April 2, 2003 RID="*" ID="*" Correspondence and reprints: Department of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Athens, Athens 15784, Greece. E-mail: bgalatis@biol.uoa.gr