Isolation of Intact Vacuoles from Petunia Petals and Extraction of Sequestered Glycosylated Phenylpropanoid Compounds

A method for separating tonoplast from wheat

Vacuoles account for 90% of plant cell volume and play important roles in maintaining osmotic pressure, storing metabolites and lysosomes, compartmentalizing harmful ions, and storing and reusing minerals. These functions closely relay on the ion channels and transporters located on the tonoplast. The separation of intact vacuoles from plant cells is the key technology utilized in the study of tonoplast-located ion channels and transporters. However, the current vacuole separation methods are available for Arabidopsis and some other dicotyledons but are lacking for monocot crops. In this study, we established a new method for the vacuole separation from wheat mesophyll cells and investigated the transmembrane proton flux of tonoplasts with non-invasive micro-test technology (NMT). Moreover, our study provides a technology for the study of vacuole functions in monocot crops.

Biomarker identification of isolated compartments of the cell wall, cytoplasm and vacuole from the internodal cell of characean Nitellopsis obtusa

Cells of characean algae are attractive for plant cell physiologists because of their large size and their close relation to higher plant cells. The objective of our study was to evaluate the purity of the compartments (cell wall, cytoplasm with plastids, mitochondria, nuclei and endomembrane system, and vacuole) separated mechanically from the internodal cells of Nitellopsis obtusa using enzymatic markers. These included α-mannosidase and malate dehydrogenase, vacuolar and cytoplasmic enzymes, respectively. The biomarkers applied revealed the degree of compartment contamination with the material from unwanted cell parts. The cell wall was contaminated slightly by vacuole and cytoplasm residuals, respectively by 12.3 and 1.96% of corresponding biomarker activities. Relatively high activity of vacuolar marker in the cell wall could be associated with the cell vacuoles in the multicellular structure of the nodes. The biomarkers confirmed highly purified vacuolar (99.5%) and cytoplasmic (86.7%) compartments. Purity estimation of the cell fractions enabled reevaluating nCuO related Cu concentrations in the compartments of charophyte cell. The internalisation of CuO nanoparticles in N. obtusa cell occurred already after 0.5h. In general, the approach seems to be useful for assessing the accumulation and distribution of various xenobiotics and/or metabolites within plant cell. All this justifies N.obtusa internodal cells as a model organism for modern studies in cell biology and nanotoxicology.