Chapter 2 Actin-Microtubule Interaction in Plants

Interactions between actins and microtubules play an important role in many fundamental cellular processes in eukaryotes. Although several studies have shown actins and microtubules to be involved in specific cellular activities, little is known about how actins and microtubules contribute together to a given process. Preprophase band formation, which plays an essential role in plant division site determination, is a cellular process that lends itself to studies of actin-microtubule interactions and how they contribute to important cellular functions. Recently, we have analyzed microtubule-associated microfilaments during preprophase band formation in onion cotyledon epidermal cells using a combination of high-pressure freezing/freeze substitution and electron tomography. Quantitative analysis of our electron tomography data showed that relatively short single microfilaments form bridges between two adjacent microtubules in the process of narrowing of the preprophase microtubule band. Two types of microtubule-microfilamentmicrotubule connections are observed, and these microfilament-microtubule interactions suggest a direct role of F-actins in microtubule bundling. Based on these observations, we discuss how different actin-microtubule linkers might contribute to preprophase band narrowing and to other changes in microtubule organization in plant cells.