Xylogenesis in tissue culture: Taxol effects on microtubule reorientation and lateral association in differentiating cells

Summary InZinnia elegans tissue cultures, cortical microtubules reorient from longitudinal to transverse arrays as the culture age increases and before differentiation of tracheary elements is visible. The orientation of microtubules, in the period just before visible differentiation, determines the direction of the secondary wall bands in forming tracheary elements. Taxol, applied early in culture, stabilizes the microtubules of most cells in the longitudinal direction. Tracheary elements differentiating in these taxol treated cultures show secondary wall bands parallel to the long axis of the cell while those differentiating in control cultures always have wall bands transverse to the long axis of the cell.It is proposed that, in untreatedZinnia cultures, microtubules are reoriented by a gradual shift from longitudinal to transverse and this reorientation normally occurs before differentiation becomes visible. Once initiated, tracheary element differentiation involves lateral association of microtubules to form the discrete bands typical of secondary wall patterns.