Abstract
ER body is a compartment that is derived from endoplasmic reticulum in Arabidopsis thaliana. They are distributed in the epidermal cells of whole seedlings, while rosset leaves have no ER bodies. However, ER bodies are induced in rosset leaves by wounded stress and/or treatment with methyl jasmonate. This indicates that the ER body plays a role in the defense system of plants (Matsushima et al.,2003). Fluorescent ER bodies were observed in transgenic plants of Arabidopsis expressing GFP fused with an ER retention signal (GFP-h). To know the mechanism of ER body formation, we raised several kinds of morphological ER body mutants by EMS treatment of the epidermal cells of cotyledons from GFP-h seeds. We will report the morphological features of these mutants obtained through observations by conforcal laser scan microscope and transmission electron microscope. Based on these, we would like to discuss the mechanism of the formation of ER bodies.
