Cytological Study of the Introduction of Agrobacterium tumefaciens Spheroplasts into Nicotiana tabacum Protoplasts

Agrobacterium tumefaciens Spheroplast의 연초엽육 Protoplast내 도입에 관한 세포학적 연구

Agrobacterium tumefaciens induces cancerous growths called crown galls at wound sites on dicotyledonous plants. A large plasmid called Ti plasmid is responsible for virulence. Upon tumor induction, part of the plasmid, termed T-DNA, becomes integrated into plant genome and its genetic sequences are expressed. These properties allow Ti plasmids to be used as gene vectors in plants. Several in vitro methods for the transfer of Ti plasmid into plant cell have been developed. One of them is the treatment of bacterial spheroplasts and plant protoplasts mixture with polyethylene glycol that is generally used as fusogen in cell-to-cell fusion. Several workers investigated the interaction of bacterial spheroplasts with plant protoplasts in the presence of polyethylene glycol and suggested that the interaction is not fusion but endocytosis. In this report we observed the interaction of Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplasts with Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts by electron microscope. Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplasts and Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts were prepared and mixed in the presence of polyethylene glycol and high pH-high $Ca^{2+}$ buffer. Then the interaction of the spheroplasts with the protoplasts was examined by transmission electron microscope. After the treatment of polyethylene glycol the spheroplasts adhered to the surface of the protoplasts and then they were engulfed by the protoplasts. After the high pH-high $Ca^{2+}$ buffer treatment the engulfed spheroplasts lost their cell integrity. No fusion process was observed. Thus all these observations suggest that the introduction process of Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplasts into Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts with the aid of polyethylene glycol is endocytosis.

Polyethylene glycol(PEG) 처리에 의한 Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplast와 연초 엽육 protoplast의 상호작용을 연구하기 위하여, 효소적 방법으로 분리한 연초엽육 protoplast와 carbenicillin 및 lysozyme의 처리에 의해 제조된 Agrobacterium tumefaciens ATCC 15955 spheroplast를 섞어서 polyethylene glycol (PEG) 및 high pH-high $Ca^{2+}$ buffer를 처리한 후 시료를 취하여 전자현미경으로 관찰한 결과, spheroplast는 초기 단계에서 protoplast membrane에 부착하고, 시간이 경과함에 따라 endocytosis에 의해 protoplast의 세포질 내부로 도입된 다음, 점차로 그 형체(cell integrity)가 파괴되어지는 것을 관찰할 수 있었다. 이러한 관찰 결과로부터 spheroplast는 polyethylene glycol(PEG)에 의해 protoplast내부로 endocytosis되어짐을 알 수 있었다.