New insight into bulb dynamics in the vacuolar lumen of Arabidopsis cells

Plant vacuoles are multifunctional organelles with dynamic and transient membranous structures, such as trans-vacuolar strands and bulbs. Bulbs are highly mobile structures that travel along trans-vacuolar strands. A candidate effector protein from Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp124357) fused with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was used to investigate the properties of central vacuoles and their bulbs. We discovered the coexistence of two bulb populations in Arabidopsis cells. In addition to previously-described bulbs, which present even marker protein distribution on the bulb surface, we discerned bulbs displaying irregular fusion protein distribution. Using FRAP, we also demonstrated that bulbs do not exchange proteins with the tonoplast once they are formed. These results show that more than one type of bulb may co-exist in the same cell and provide evidence of micro-domains on the bulb surface. They also reveal that proteins do not flow freely from the tonoplast to the bulb membrane, giving new insight into the biology of tonoplast-derived substructures.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author