Cortical fine actin filaments in higher plant cells visualized by rhodamine-phalloidin after pretreatment with m-maleimidobenzoyl N-hydroxysuccinimide ester

Summary Actin filaments in cultured tobacco cells were stained by rhodamine-phalloidin after pretreatment with 100 M m-maleidobenzoyl N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (MBS) followed by formaldehyde fixation. The use of MBS prior to formaldehyde fixation enabled us to visualize fine, transversely arranged cortical actin filaments in a majority of interphase tobacco cells. It also enabled us to double-stain fine actin filaments and microtubules in the same cells. The pattern of actin filaments and that of microtubules in the cortical region of a single tobacco cell bore a close resemblance to each other. The method which employed MBS was found to be useful also in visualizing fine cortical actin filaments in inner epidermal cells of onion bulbs.Rhodamine-phalloidin seemed to induce the bundling of actin filaments both tobacco cells and in onion cells when it was applied to the cells which had not been subjected to fixation, indicating that the application of fluorescent-dye-labeled phallotoxins to unfixed cells involves the risk of observing artifically bundled actin filaments.