Live Cell Visualization & Organelle Dynamics

The discovery of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) from Aequorea victoria and creation of subsequent GFP-variants has revolutionized biology. The plant cell has become fully illuminated! Extrapolation of observations based on static images is rapidly giving way to non-invasive, dynamic, live-cell studies wherein different cellular components and compartments, highlighted through various multicolored targeted fluorescent proteins are studied either independently or in interacting combinations.

Our lab uses a large collection of intracellular markers, generated either by us or obtained from other labs, for studying organelle dynamics and interactions in living plant cells. These include marker lines for cell-wall, chloroplasts, cytoplasm, endoplasmic-reticulum, endosomes, filamentous (F)-actin, Golgi-bodies, microtubules, mitochondria, nucleus, peroxisomes, plasma-membrane, plasmodesmata, and vacuoles.

The interactive presentation below shows some representative images (180kb, might take slightly long to load!)

Some of our recent studies using live-cell probes have revealed the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton in leaf epidermal trichomes (Mathur et al. 1999, Mathur and Chua, 2000), demonstrated actin dependent intracellular motility of peroxisomes (Mathur et al. 2002), elucidated the role of actin cytoskeleton in organelle distribution and cell morphogenesis (Mathur et al. 2003a, 2003b), and visualized plus-end extension and behavior of microtubules (Mathur et al. 2003c).

Our lab is presently dissecting the response hierarchy and localized co-operation between the actin and microtubule components of the cytoskeleton during differential growth in higher plant cells

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