Studies on the perfused plasmalemma ofChara corallina: I. Current-voltage curves: ATP and potassium dependence

Salt tolerance at single cell level in giant-celled Characeae

Characean plants provide an excellent experimental system for electrophysiology and physiology due to: (i) very large cell size, (ii) position on phylogenetic tree near the origin of land plants and (iii) continuous spectrum from very salt sensitive to very salt tolerant species. A range of experimental techniques is described, some unique to characean plants. Application of these methods provided electrical characteristics of membrane transporters, which dominate the membrane conductance under different outside conditions. With this considerable background knowledge the electrophysiology of salt sensitive and salt tolerant genera can be compared under salt and/or osmotic stress. Both salt tolerant and salt sensitive Characeae show a rise in membrane conductance and simultaneous increase in Na(+) influx upon exposure to saline medium. Salt tolerant Chara longifolia and Lamprothamnium sp. exhibit proton pump stimulation upon both turgor decrease and salinity increase, allowing the membrane PD to remain negative. The turgor is regulated through the inward K(+) rectifier and 2H(+)/Cl(-) symporter. Lamprothamnium plants can survive in hypersaline media up to twice seawater strength and withstand large sudden changes in salinity. Salt sensitive C. australis succumbs to 50-100 mM NaCl in few days. Cells exhibit no pump stimulation upon turgor decrease and at best transient pump stimulation upon salinity increase. Turgor is not regulated. The membrane PD exhibits characteristic noise upon exposure to salinity. Depolarization of membrane PD to excitation threshold sets off trains of action potentials, leading to further loses of K(+) and Cl(-). In final stages of salt damage the H(+)/OH(-) channels are thought to become the dominant transporter, dissipating the proton gradient and bringing the cell PD close to 0. The differences in transporter electrophysiology and their synergy under osmotic and/or saline stress in salt sensitive and salt tolerant characean cells are discussed in detail.

Action potential in charophytes

The plant action potential (AP) has been studied for more than half a century. The experimental system was provided mainly by the large charophyte cells, which allowed insertion of early large electrodes, manipulation of cell compartments, and inside and outside media. These early experiments were inspired by the Hodgkin and Huxley (HH) work on the squid axon and its voltage clamp techniques. Later, the patch clamping technique provided information about the ion transporters underlying the excitation transient. The initial models were also influenced by the HH picture of the animal AP. At the turn of the century, the paradigm of the charophyte AP shifted to include several chemical reactions, second messenger-activated channel, and calcium ion liberation from internal stores. Many aspects of this new model await further clarification. The role of the AP in plant movements, wound signaling, and turgor regulation is now well documented. Involvement in invasion by pathogens, chilling injury, light, and gravity sensing are under investigation.

Voltage-gated calcium and Ca2+-activated chloride channels and Ca2+ transients: voltage-clamp studies of perfused and intact cells of Chara

The voltage-clamp technique was used to study Ca(2+) and Cl(-) transient currents in the plasmalemma of tonoplast-free and intact Chara corallina cells. In tonoplast-free cells [perfused medium with ethylene glycol bis(2-aminoethyl ether)tetraacetic acid] long-term inward and outward currents through Ca channels consisted of two components: with and without time-dependent inactivation. The voltage dependence of the Ca channel activation ratio was found to be sigmoid-shaped, with about -140-mV activation threshold, reaching a plateau at V>50 mV. As the voltage increased, the characteristic activation time decreased from approximately 10(3) ms in the threshold region to approximately 10 ms in the positive region. The positive pulse-activated channels can then be completely deactivated, which is recorded by the Ca(2+) tail currents, at below-threshold negative voltages with millisecond-range time constants. This tail current is used for fast and brief Ca(2+) injection into tonoplast-free and intact cells, to activate the chloride channels by Ca(2+) . When cells are perfused with EDTA-containing medium in the presence of excess Mg(2+), this method of injection allows the free submembrane Ca(2+) concentration, [Ca(2+)](c), to be raised rapidly to several tens of micromoles per liter. Then a chloride component is recorded in the inward tail current, with the amplitude proportional to [see text]. When Ca(2+) is thus injected into an intact cell, it induces an inward current in the voltage-clamped plasmalemma, having activation-inactivation kinetics qualitatively resembling that in EDTA-perfused cells, but a considerably higher amplitude and duration (approximately 10 A m(-2) and tau(inact)~0.5 s at -200 mV). Analysis of our data and theoretical considerations indicate that the [Ca(2+)](c) rise during cell excitation is caused mainly by Ca(2+) entry through plasmalemma Ca channels rather than by Ca(2+) release from intracellular stores.

D2O-induced ion channel activation in Characeae at low ionic strength

Effects of D2O were studied on internodal cells of the freshwater alga Nitellopsis obtusa under plasmalemma perfusion (tonoplast-free cells) with voltage clamp, and on Ca2+ channels isolated from the alga and reconstituted in bilayer lipid membranes (BLM). External application of artificial pond water (APW) with D2O as the solvent to the perfused plasmalemma preparation led to an abrupt drop of membrane resistance (Rm = 0.12 +/- 0.03 k omega.cm2), thus preventing further voltage clamping. APW with 25% D2O caused a two-step reduction of Rm: first, down to 2.0 +/- 0.8 k omega.cm2, and then further to 200 omega.cm2, in 2 min. It was shown that in the first stage, Ca2+ channels are activated, and then, Ca2+ ions entering through them activate the Cl- channels. The Ca2+ channels are activated irreversibly. If 100 mM CsCl was substituted for 200 mM sucrose (introduced for iso-osmoticity), no effect of D2O on Rm was observed. Intracellular H2O/D2O substitution also did not change Rm. In experiments on single Ca2+ channels in BLM H2O/D2O substitution in a solution containing 100 mM KCl (trans side) produced no effect on channel activity, while in 10 mM KCl, at negative voltage, the open channel probability sharply increased. This effect was irreversible. The single channel conductance was not altered after the H2O/D2O substitution. The discussion of the possible mechanism of D2O action on Ca2+ and Cl- channels was based on an osmotic-like stress effect and the phenomenon of higher D-bond energy compared to the H-bond.

Blockers of Ca2+ channels in the plasmalemma of perfused Characeae cells

Ionic currents in the plasmalemma of perfused Nitella syncarpa cells identified as currents through Ca2+ channels were registered for the first time. The effect of 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives (nifedipine, nitrendipine, riodipine) and phenylalkylamines (verapamil, D600) as well as the agonist CGP-28392 on the Ca2+ channels in the plasmalemma of perfused cells of Nitellopsis obtusa and Nitella syncarpa have been studied. A blocking effect of 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives and phenylalkylamines on the plasmalemma Ca2+ channels has been detected. Phenylalkylamines have been found to block both inward and outward Ca2+ currents. The activating effect of the agonist CGP-28392 on the Ca2+ channels of plasmalemma has been shown.

Theory of electric dissipative structure in Characean internode

A band-type alternating pattern of acidic and alkaline regions formed along the Characean cell wall is discussed theoretically. The model system is constructed from linear diffusion equations for the concentration of H+ outside the internode and in the protoplasm. The plasmalemma is taken as a boundary transporting H+ under energy supply by light. The sizes of the protoplasm and extracellular water phase are taken into account explicitly in the present model system to reproduce qualitatively the characteristics observed in various types of experiments. Theoretical analysis shows that the band pattern belongs to dissipative structures emerging far from equilibrium, and is stabilized through the electric current loops produced by locally activated electrogenic H+ pumps and spatially separated passive H+ influx (or OH- efflux) across the membrane. Both the numerical calculation and the theoretical analysis using a generalized time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation reveal the following points: (i) the intemodal cell with a larger vacuole in a smaller size of the extracellular water phase tends to exhibit a clearer band pattern; (ii) the increase in viscosity of the external aqueous medium makes the bands appear more easily and, furthermore, distinctly; (iii) the change in size of the extracellular water phase significantly affects the kinetics of the pattern- formation process. These results are interpreted reasonably by taking account of the electric current circulating between the acidic and alkaline regions.

Sugar uptake into Allium cepa leaf tissue: an integrated approach

Allium cepa L. leaves were subjected to enzymatic (pectolyase) and mechanical manipulation in order to ascertain the contribution made by various leaf tissues to the total sugar uptake by the leaf. In order to develop an understanding of the basic anatomy and ultrastructure of the Allium leaf and assess the integrity of the tissue before and after enzymatic and mechanical manipulation, a light- and transmission-electron-microscopy study was performed. One outcome of this study was the discovery that the chloroplasts of the bundle-sheath cells contain starch. The function of these inclusions in relation to carbohydrate pools and translocation is discussed. Kinetic curves for sucrose and fructose uptake by leaf discs derived from control and modified leaves are presented. In addition, kinetic curves for the tissues removed by the enzymatic treatment (inner parenchyma, bundle sheath and some vascular parenchyma) and the vascular bundles were also obtained. All tissues exhibited the same linear plus saturable profile as the dicotyledon, Beta vulgaris, with the exception of fructose uptake into the inner parenchyma and bundle-sheath cells; in this case the response was linear. The effect of anoxia on uptake of exogenous sucrose was also investigated. Anaerobiosis inhibited both the linear and saturable component of sucrose influx. Adenine-nucleotide levels were obtained using high-performance liquid chromatography for control (air) and anoxia-treated (N2) leaf discs. A general loss of adenine nucleotides was observed. The results presented indicate that all tissues of the leaf retrieve exogenous sugar such that the kinetic curves derived from leaf discs cannot represent phloem loading, per se.

Immobilisation of organelles and actin bundles in the cortical cytoplasm of the alga Chara corallina Klein ex. Wild

The mechanism by which sub-cortical actin bundles and membranous organelles are immobilised in the cortical cytoplasm of the alga Chara was studied by perfusing cells with a solution containing 1% Triton X-100. Light and scanning electron microscopy and the release of starch grains and chlorophyll-protein complexes indicated that the detergent extensively solubilised the chloroplasts. However, the sub-cortical actin bundles remained in situ even though they were originally separated from the plasma membrane by the chloroplasts. A fibrous layer between chloroplasts and plasma membrane became readily visible after detergent extraction of the cells and could be released by low-ionic-strength ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, thioglycollate and trypsin. The same treatments applied to cells not subject to detergent extraction released the membrane-bound organelles and actin bundles and no fibrous meshwork was visible on subsequent extraction with Triton. It is, therefore, concluded that a detergent-insoluble cortical cytoskeleton exists and contributes to the immobility of the actin and cortical organelles in the cells.

Adenine-nucleotide levels and metabolism-dependent membrane potential in cells of Nitellopsis obtusa Groves

The relationship between adenine-nucleotide levels and metabolism-dependent membrane potential was studied in cells of Nitellopsis obtusa. Effects of ADP and AMP in the presence of ATP on electrogenic pump activity were measured in the dark, using the continuous perfusion method. Both ADP and AMP acte as competitive inhibitors for ATP, the Ki value for either compound being about 0.4 mM. The role of ADP and AMP as regulating factors for the electrogenic pump was investigated under various metabolic conditions. Application of N2 gas in the dark caused a significant membrane depolarization amounting to 90 mV, but cytoplasmic streaming and membrane excitability were not affected. Under anoxia, the ATP level decreased from 1.6 to 0.5 mM; ADP increased but only slightly, and AMP increased greatly. However, the time course of changes in the adenine nucleotides was not concurrent with that of the membrane-potential changes, thus, the adenine-nucleotide level changes cannot fully account for the N2-elicited depolarization. Under light, although the membrane hyperpolarized, no significant changes in the adenine-nucleotide levels were observed. Therefore, the light-induced membrane hyperpolarization cannot be explained solely by changes in adenine-nucleotide levels.

Calcium effects on electrogenic pump and passive permeability of the plasma membrane of Chara corallina

Removal of Ca2+ from the medium results in depolarization of the Chara internodal cell and an increase in membrane conductance (Gm). The increase in conductance is associated with an increase in K+ conductance, as judged by Ca2+ effects on the K+ dependence of clamp current. The voltage dependence of Gm is also affected by Ca2+, as is the time course of the response of clamp current to a step change in voltage. Mg2+ restores the low conductance and the fast response to a voltage change, but not hyperpolarization at neutral pH, suggesting that there is an additional, independent effect on the electrogenic pump. The membrane does not show the normal ability to increase proton conductance at high pH in the absence of Ca2+; this is also restored by Mg2+ as well as by Ca2+.

Dependence of the membrane potential on intracellular ATP concentration in tonoplast-free cells of Nitellopsis obtusa

The membrane potential of tonoplast-free cells of Nitellopsis obtusa Graves in relation to the intracellulcar concentration of ATP ([ATP])i was measured using either the ordinary microelectrode method or the open-vacuole method (M. Tazawa, M. Kikuyama and S. Nakagawa, 1975, Plant Cell Physiol. 16, 611). The intracellular ATP concentration was modified in the microelectrode method by introducing into the cell ATP-regenerating media composed of phosphoenolpyruvate and pyruvate kinase, and in the open-vacuole method by continuously perfusing the cell interior with media of known ATP concentrations. Plots of the membrane potential against the [ATP]i follow a rectangular hyperbola. Using the microelectrode method, the maximum ATP-dependent potential was about-120-130 mV and the apparent K m about 10-30 μM. When the openvacuole method was used, the maximum ATP-dependent potential was about 100 mV and the apparent K m about 100 μM. The membrane was still excitable when the [ATP]i was 10 μM but not at 1.7 μM [ATP]i. The membrane resistance increased in parallel with a decrease in [ATP]i or membrane depolarization, but decreased again at a very low [ATP]i (1.7 μM).