Abstract
In higher plants, vacuoles increase their volume according to cell enlargement and occupy most of the cell volume. However, quantitative analyses of vacuolar contributions during the changes in cell morphology are still insufficient. To observe the vacuolar dynamics in living cells, we have established a transgenic BY-2 cell-line expressing a GFP-AtVam3p fusion protein (BY-GV7), and developed 3-D reconstruction software, named SSR. In this study, we clarified the contribution of vacuoles to morphological changes of the cell. Using the plasmolysis and cell elongation as model systems, we reconstructed the 3-D structures of vacuoles. Morphometrical analyses were performed at the single-cell level, and space-filling functions of vacuoles were evaluated. We found that the deformation of vacuoles mainly accounts for the changes of cell volume, while the surface area of vacuoles are invariably maintained. Furthermore, we attempt to try mechanical simulations of the vacuolar dynamics.
