This protocol describes a fluorescence microscope-based screening of Arabidopsis seedlings and describes how to map recessive mutations that alter the subcellular distribution of a specific tagged fluorescent marker in the secretory pathway. Arabidopsis is a powerful biological model for genetic studies because of its genome size, generation time, and conservation of molecular mechanisms among kingdoms. The array genotyping as an approach to map the mutation in alternative to the traditional method based on molecular markers is advantageous because it is relatively faster and may allow the mapping of several mutants in a really short time frame. This method allows the identification of proteins that can influence the integrity of any organelle in plants. Here, as an example, we propose a screen to map genes important for the integrity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Our approach, however, can be easily extended to other plant cell organelles (for example see 1,2 ), and thus represents an important step toward understanding the molecular basis governing other subcellular structures.
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Protocol
EMS TreatmentArabidopsis thaliana seeds are mutagenized using as mutagen agent ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) 3,4 , which induces into the genome C-to-T changes resulting in C/G to T/A mutations 5-7 .
Confocal Screening of M2 and M3 PopulationsIn this section we describe the observation of seedlings with a confocal or fluorescence microscope as described earlier 8 1. Weigh 0.8 g Arabidopsis seeds (~40,000 seeds) carrying the organelle fluorescent marker (specifically, in this study ssGFPHDEL (signal sequence-GFP-HDEL tetrapeptide) has been used as an ER marker). 2. Transfer the seeds in a 50-ml falcon tube, then add 25 ml distilled water. 3. Add 0.2% (v/v) ethyl methane sulfonate. 4. Incubate for 16 hours on nutating mixer at low speed. 5. Aspirate the liquid and discard it into a flask containing 1.0 M NaOH to inactivate the EMS. 6. Add 25 ml water to the Falcon tube containing the seeds, close, and invert 5 times to wash the seeds; wait until all the seeds have settled, then aspirate the water and discard into the 1.0 M NaOH flask. 7. Repeat the washing step up to 10 times. 8. After the final wash, re-suspend the seeds in a minimal amount of water. 9. Proceed to seed sterilization adding 25 mL of 10 % bleach, shake vigorously for 30 s. Let seeds settle to bottom, then pour off bleach and rinse with 25 mL of sterile water. Pour off the sterile water and add 25 mL 70 % ethanol. Shake tubes for 30 s. Let seeds settle to bottom. Pour off ethanol and rinse with 25 mL of sterile water. Repeat twice the wash with sterile water, then pour seeds on a plastic Petri dish containing 3 MM filter paper and let dry under the hood. Store at 4°C for 2 days. 10. Plate the seeds on ½ MS phytagel (half concentration of Murashige and Skoog medium), 150-mm Petri dish (~250-300 seeds for plate). 11. Grow M1 seeds on plate for 2 weeks, then tr...