title: Fluorescent labeling and confocal microscopic imaging of chloroplasts and non-green plastids.
abstract: While chlorophyll has served as an excellent label for plastids in green tissue, the development of fluorescent proteins has allowed their ready visualization in all tissues of the plants, revealing new features of their morphology and motility. Gene regulatory sequences in plastid transgenes can be optimized through the use of fluorescent protein reporters. Fluorescent labeling of plastids simultaneously with other subcellular locations reveals dynamic interactions and mutant phenotypes. Transient expression of fluorescent protein fusions is particularly valuable to determine whether or not a protein of unknown function is targeted to the plastid. Particle bombardment and agroinfiltration methods described here are convenient for imaging fluorescent proteins in plant organelles. With proper selection of fluorophores for labeling the components of the plant cell, confocal microscopy can produce extremely informative images at high resolution at depths not feasible by standard epifluorescence microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Maureen R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Amirali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sattarzadeh
mesh_terms: D016960:Agrobacterium tumefaciens / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000235:genetics*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics*; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002734:Chlorophyll; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein; C054562:yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria