Cytochemical studies on GERL, provacuoles, and vacuoles in root meristematic cells of Euphorbia.
The genesis of plant vacuoles has been studied by high-voltage and conventional electron microscopy. Vacuole genesis is a lysosomal multistep process: (i) GERL (Golgi-associated Endoplasmic Reticulum from which Lysosomes apparently form) produces provacuoles into which lysosomal enzymes and probably other materials appear to be concentrated and packaged; (ii) GERL-derived provacuoles cooperate to drive a programmed cellular autophagy leading to young vacuoles; and (iii) the young vacuoles swell and fuse together into a few large mature vacuoles which continue to collect the GERL-derived provacuoles throughout the life of the cell.
Institut de Biologie cellulaire, Unité d'Enseignement et de Recherche Scientifique de Luminy, Université d'Aix-Marseille, 13288 Marseille Cedex 2, France.
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