PH-sensitivity of YFP provides an intracellular indicator of programmed cell death.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an essential process for the life cycle of all multicellular organisms. In higher plants however, relatively little is known about the cascade of genes and signalling molecules responsible for the initiation and execution of PCD. To aid with the discovery and analysis of plant PCD regulators, we have designed a novel cell death assay based on low cytosolic pH as a marker of PCD.

Results

The acidification that occurs in the cytosol during plant PCD was monitored by way of the extinction of YFP fluorescence at low pH. This fluorescence was recovered experimentally when bringing the intracellular pH back to 7, demonstrating that there was no protein degradation of YFP. Because it uses YFP, the assay is none-destructive, does not interfe

SUBMITTER: Young B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3009963 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature