Abstract
γ-tubulin plays a role of microtubule nucleation in animal and fungal cells. We have shown that γ-tubulin predominantly localizes at the end of cortical microtubules in plants, but it is not proven that γ-tubulin is essential for microtubule nucleation and resulting cell morphogenesis. In the present study, we used virus-induced gene silencing system to examine roles of γ-tubulin in microtubule assembly, cell division and cell elongation.
Nicotiana benthamiana plants were infected with tomato mosaic virus vector with γ-tubulin partial mRNA. The infected plants continued to grow, probably because viruses cannot enter into the apical meristem. Leaves which expanded after spread of the viruses had many morphological defects including malformed epidermal cells and decreased number of palisade cells. Amount of γ-tubulin greatly decreased in the leaves. Control viruses without γ-tubulin mRNA sequence had no effect. Analysis of microtubule organization in such plants is in progress.
