title: Mammalian Bax initiates plant cell death through organelle destruction.
abstract: Mammalian Bax is known to cause cell death when expressed in plants. We examined transgenic plants expressing both Bax and organelle-targeted green fluorescent protein to determine the cellular changes that occur during Bax-induced cell death. The mitochondria changed morphologically from being bacilli-shaped to being round, eventually becoming swollen. Mitochondria streaming also stopped. The chloroplasts lost membrane function and their contents leaked out, followed by the disruption of the vacuole. Light was not essential for Bax-induced ion leakage or organelle disruption. These results indicate that Bax induces temporal and spatial cell death events at the organelle level in the plant. A heterologous system, using Bax, would therefore be available to investigate cell death, which is commonly conserved in animals and plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 13-0032, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshinaga
authors.forename: Shin-ich
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Arimura
authors.forename: Aiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.forename: Dae-Jin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchimiya
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawai-Yamada
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016923:Cell Death / Q000502:physiology; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008954:Models, Biological; D015388:Organelles / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins