Abstract
Intermediate filaments (IFs) are known as a kind of major cytoskeletons in animal cells. However, IFs in plant cells have not been identified yet. The deduced amino acid sequence of Arabidopsis IFMoP1 gene has IF motifs and long α-helical structure which are conserved among animal IFs. Previously, we found that IFMoP1-GFP fusion protein, which was over-expressed in transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells, formed cytoskeleton like filamentous structures in cytoplasm around nuclei. We regard IFMoP1 as a candidate for a gene encoding the IF protein in higher plants.
By fluorescence microscopy, it is revealed that structures which were formed from IFMoP1-GFP protein were fragmentated in the cell cortex and were arranged transversely to the cell axis. Additionally, time-lapse analysis showed that the filamentous structures moved randomly in cytoplasm around nuclei, and then were fragmentated. After the fragmentation of the structures, these were distributed and localized in cell cortex. The arrangement of fragments was similar to cortical microtubules arrays. It might co-localize with cortical microtubules.
