title: Cytochemical evidence for the presence of actin in the nucleus of the voodoo lily appendix.
abstract: Immunoflorescence microscopy of sections of the voodoo lily Sauromatum guttatum appendix stained with monoclonal antibodies against alpha-smooth muscle actin and cytoplasmic actin revealed different staining intensity of different parts of the cell. The anti-cytoplasmic-actin recognized antigens present mainly in the cytoplasm, and the anti-alpha-smooth muscle-actin recognized more intensively antigens present in the nuclei. A positive staining of the nucleus was also obtained with FITC-phalloidin confirming the presence of actin in its filamenous form in the nucleus. The presence of a nuclear alpha-smooth muscle-actin-like protein was further confirmed by confocal laser microscopy. On Western blots, the two anti-actins labelled a protein band that comigrated with standard actin at the approximate molecular weight of 43 kDa. Several other proteins interacted with the two antibodies to a different degree. The monoclonal antibodies against beta-tubulin subunit stained only the periphery of the cytoplasm and anti-pan cytoplasmic myosin stained the cytoplasm weakly. On a Western blot, anti-beta-tubulin subunit primarily recognized a protein band at the appropriate molecular weight of 50 kDa. This is the first cytochemical evidence for the presence of alpha-smooth muscle-actin-like protein in the plant nucleus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skubatz
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Orellana
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yablonka-Reuveni
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000032:analysis*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D019668:Liliaceae / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins