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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

The functional status of paraveinal mesophyll vacuoles changes in response to altered metabolic conditions in soybean leaves

Kimberly A. Murphy A , Rachel A. Kuhle B , Andreas M. Fischer C , Aldwin M. Anterola A and Howard D. Grimes A B D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6340, USA.

B Graduate Program in Molecular Plant Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6340, USA.

C Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana State University–Bozeman, Bozeman, MT 59717-3150, USA.

D Corresponding author. Email: grimes@wsu.edu

Functional Plant Biology 32(4) 335-344 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP05006
Submitted: 28 December 2004  Accepted: 4 March 2005   Published: 26 April 2005

Abstract

Antibodies raised against tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs) were used to probe the functional status of the soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] paraveinal mesophyll (PVM) vacuole during changes in nitrogen metabolism within the leaf. Young plants grown under standard conditions had PVM vacuoles characterised by the presence of γ-TIP, which is indicative of a lytic function. When plants were then subjected to shoot tip removal for a period of 15 d, forcing a sink-limited physiological condition, the γ-TIP marker diminished while the δ-TIP marker became present in the PVM vacuole, indicating the conversion of the PVM vacuole to a storage function. When the shoot tips were allowed to regrow, the γ-TIP marker again became dominant demonstrating the reversion of these PVM vacuoles back to a lytic compartment. The changes in TIP markers correlated with the accumulation of vegetative storage proteins and vegetative lipoxygenases, proteins implicated in nitrogen storage and assimilate partitioning. This research suggests that the PVM vacuole is able to undergo dynamic conversion between lytic and storage functions and further implicates this cell layer in assimilate storage and mobilisation in soybeans.

Keywords: lipoxygenases, nitrogen metabolism, soybean, vacuole, vegetative storage proteins.


Acknowledgments

We thank Dr John Rogers (Washington State University) for the α-TIP, γ-TIP and δ-TIP antibodies, and Dr Paul Staswick (University of Nebraska) for the VSPα antibodies. This work is funded by the US Department of Energy.


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