biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 53:387-390, 2009 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-009-0073-4

Cadmium effects on the organization of microtubular cytoskeleton in interphase and mitotic cells of Allium sativum

P. Xu¹, D. Liu^1,*, W. Jiang²

¹ Department of Biology, College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, P.R. China

² Library, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, P.R. China

We have investigated the effects of cadmium on the microtubular (MT) cytoskeleton in the root tip cells of Allium sativum L. using indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. Cd affected the mechanisms controlling the organization of MT cytoskeleton, as well as tubulin assembly/disassembly processes. Cd induced the formation of abnormal MT arrays, consisting of discontinuous wavy MTs or short MT fragments at the cell periphery. Cadmium caused irregular nuclear disorder in cells where the MT organization and function was disturbed. Furthermore, with increased Cd concentration and duration of treatment the MTs depolymerized more severely, the frequency of abnormal cell increased and the mitotic index decreased progressively. The above findings showed that MT cytoskeleton is one of target sites of Cd toxicity in root tip cells.

Keywords: root tip cells; tubulin

Subjects: Allium sativum; cadmium; cytoskeleton; garlic; heavy metals; microtubules; mitosis

Received: July 9, 2008; Accepted: February 28, 2009; Published: June 1, 2009  Show citation