We would like to thank Tal Nawy and Martin Bayer for their advice on embryo isolation. MTR, VG, UG and CB devised the embryo isolation equipment. MTR, VG and CB developed the embryo isolation protocol. MTR, VG and CB established the protocol, isolated the embryos, and generated embryo cDNA, VG performed the PCR, MTR the GUS staining, JJ the FISH experiments. MTR, VG, CG and UG wrote the manuscript. This work was funded by the University of Z&uuml;rich, a Fellowship of the Roche Research Foundation (to MTR), and grants from the Swiss National Foundation (to UG and CB).

The procedure is summarized in the flowchart shown in Figure 1. The microcapillaries and the instrumental setup are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3, and typical steps of embryo isolation are shown in Figure 4.
1. Material and Buffer Preparation
1.1 Silicon coating of glass microcapillaries
<ol>
 <li>Place the microcapillaries in a 15 ml Falcon tube with ~5 ml of Sigmacote (Sigma) and invert several times.</li>
 <li>Remove the solution, place the Falcon tube containing the capillaries in an aluminum foil and bake them for 3 hr at 60 &deg;C. Store at room temperature.</li>
</ol>
1.2 Obtain ~50-100 &mu;m-diameter microcapillary tips
<ol>
 <li>Pull 1 mm-diameter glass capillaries either manually over a Bunsen burner or by using a commercial puller (vertical filament puller or micropipette puller).</li>
 <li>Use a diamond-tip pen or blade to cut the tip of the pulled capillary to create the desired opening. Select the best-shaped capillaries under a stereo microscope. The opening should be 50-100 &mu;m (Figure 2).</li>
</ol>
1.3 Slide preparation
<ol>
 <li>Siliconize clean slides by covering all the wells with Sigmacote (~1 ml/slide) for 5 min, remove. Bake 3 hr in aluminum foil. Store at room temperature.</li>
 <li>Wash the multi-well glass microscopic slides for 10 min in 10% SDS, 2 x 2 min in nuclease-free water (autoclaved DEPC-ddH2O), 2 min in 70% ethanol, 2 min in 100% ethanol, air-dry. All steps are done in autoclaved Coplin jars. Slides can be re-used multiple times providing thorough cleaning between each usage.</li>
 <li>Just prior to embryo isolation spread ~0.5 &mu;l of 10 mg/ml bovine serum albumin (BSA) with a pipette over the whole surface of each well and air-dry.</li>
</ol>
1.4 Microscope and capillary setup
<ol>
 <li>Use an inverted microscope with a 10x and 20x magnification objective. Optimize the light contrast (embryos are quite transparent).</li>
 <li>Place a micromanipulator to hold the glass capillary beside the microscope. The glass capillary is connected to a microinjector (Figure 3A) or to a regular P-200 pipette via a rubber tube (Figure 3B, see Discussion for a detailed description of this setup).</li>
 <li>Place the capillary above the microscope slide at a ~70&deg; angle (Figure 3) and adjust the position to have the opening in the field of view.</li>
 <li>Just prior to embryo isolation take up and release ~5-10 &mu;l BSA (1 mg/ml) to coat the capillary.</li>
</ol>
1.5 Buffers
Table 1 lists the isolation and destination buffers depending on the downstream applications.
<ol>
 <li>Prepare ~1 ml isolation buffer per sample freshly before use and keep it on ice.</li>
 <li>Prepare the destination buffer in a 0.5 ml Eppendorf low-binding tube on ice (molecular applications) or on a microscope slide (cytological applications) in a humid chamber.</li>
</ol>
2. Seed Dissection and Embryo Extraction
2.1 Synchronisation of Seed Development
<ol>
 <li class="jove_content">Emasculate flowers and keep them 2 days in the growth chamber while avoiding contact of the exposed pistils with other flowers, then pollinate them (e.g. 11).</li>
 <li class="jove_content">Test the stage of development under your growth conditions by microscopic investigation of cleared seeds. With our growth conditions (16 hr light at 21 &deg;C, 8 hr dark at 18 &deg;C and 70% humidity) seeds collected 2.5 days after pollination (DAP) yielded mainly 2-4 cell embryos and seeds collected 3.5 - 4 DAP yielded globular embryos.</li>
</ol>
2.2 Seed Dissection and Rupture
<ol>
 <li>Remove the seeds from 10-15 siliques (~2.5 DAP) under a stereomicroscope with forceps and insulin needles.</li>
 <li>Immerse the seeds in 20 &mu;l isolation buffer in a 2 ml round-bottom Eppendorf tube placed on ice.</li>
 <li>Gently crush the seeds with a plastic pestle (pre-cleaned with 10% SDS, rinsed with DEPC-ddH2O and washed with 70% ethanol) to release the embryos until the seed extract is cloudy. The force to apply is to be determined by every user upon trial.</li>
 <li>Rinse the pestle with 300 &mu;l of isolation buffer to wash the pestle and dilute the sample.</li>
 <li>Spin-down the extract at 5,000 x g for 5 sec. Gently resuspend the pelleted extract by pipetting up-and-down 2-3 times.</li>
 <li>Filter the extract with a 30 &mu;m nylon mesh (mounted on tube adaptors, e.g. from PartecCelltricks). Rinse the mesh with an additional 200 &mu;l isolation buffer.</li>
</ol>
3. Embryo Isolation
3.1 Slide preparation
<ol>
 <li>Place a clean, BSA-coated and siliconized multi-well slide on the stage of the inverted microscope, resuspend the filtered seed extract by pipetting gently up and down and pipette 2 droplets of 40-50 &mu;l seed extract into 1 or 2 wells. Screening only 1 or 2 drops at a time prevents evaporation of the sample.</li>
 <li>Place 50 &mu;l of fresh isolation buffer (1st wash drop) in a well of a different slide prepared as before. Keep this slide in a covered, humid chamber to prevent evaporation.</li>
</ol>
3.2 Screen, clean, collect
<ol>
 <li>Screen the droplets of seed extract for embryos at the desired stage with the 10x magnification objective. If necessary, confirm the stage with the 20x magnification. The embryos usually sink to the bottom of the slide.</li>
 <li>Manually remove debris around the embryo with a tungsten needle, an insulin needle or similar equipment.</li>
 <li>Move the glass capillary near the embryo using the micromanipulator, take up the embryo with as little solution as possible.</li>
 <li>Collect several embryos (e.g. all of one droplet) and release them in the 1st wash drop(molecular application) or in destination buffer (cytological applications). Each collecting round should be kept within 5-10 min and embryos should be collected in a minimal volume (the total volume of all collecting rounds should be &lt;5 &mu;l).</li>
 <li>Repeat the screening and collection until the desired amount of embryos is gathered in the 1st wash drop (centrally, if possible, to facilitate recollection).</li>
 <li>Recollect all embryos at once from the wash drop (if debris are carried over, remove them with a needle before recollection).</li>
 <li>Release the embryos into a 2nd wash drop of 50 &mu;l. Repeat 3.2.6.</li>
 <li>Release the embryos in the destination buffer. The transfer should involve only a contact, and not immersion, of the capillary tip.</li>
 <li>Replace the microcapillary for the next sample.</li>
</ol>

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L., Henikoff, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Extensive+demethylation+of+repetitive+elements+during+seed+development+underlies+gene+imprinting.">Extensive demethylation of repetitive elements during seed development underlies gene imprinting.</a> Science. 324, 1447-1451 (2009).</li><li>Muller, B., Sheen, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cytokinin+and+auxin+interaction+in+root+stem-cell+specification+during+early+embryogenesis.">Cytokinin and auxin interaction in root stem-cell specification during early embryogenesis.</a> Nature. 453, 1094-1097 (2008).</li><li>Gehring, M., Missirian, V., Henikoff, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Genomic+analysis+of+parent-of-origin+allelic+expression+in+Arabidopsis+thaliana+seeds.">Genomic analysis of parent-of-origin allelic expression in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds.</a> PLoS One. 6, 23687-23 (2011).</li><li>Xiang, D., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Genome-wide+analysis+reveals+gene+expression+and+metabolic+network+dynamics+during+embryo+development+in+Arabidopsis.">Genome-wide analysis reveals gene expression and metabolic network dynamics during embryo development in Arabidopsis.</a> Plant Physiol. 156, 346-356 (2011).</li><li>Nawy, T., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+GATA+factor+HANABA+TARANU+is+required+to+position+the+proembryo+boundary+in+the+early+Arabidopsis+embryo.">The GATA factor HANABA TARANU is required to position the proembryo boundary in the early Arabidopsis embryo.</a> Dev Cell. 19, 103-113 (2010).</li><li>Baroux, C., Pecinka, A., Fuchs, J., Schubert, I., Grossniklaus, U. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+triploid+endosperm+genome+of+Arabidopsis+adopts+a+peculiar,+parental-dosage-dependent+chromatin+organization.">The triploid endosperm genome of Arabidopsis adopts a peculiar, parental-dosage-dependent chromatin organization.</a> Plant Cell. 19, 1782-1794 (2007).</li><li>Autran, D., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Maternal+epigenetic+pathways+control+parental+contributions+to+Arabidopsis+early+embryogenesis.">Maternal epigenetic pathways control parental contributions to Arabidopsis early embryogenesis.</a> Cell. 145, 707-719 (2011).</li><li>Wohrmann, H. J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Identification+of+a+DNA+methylation-independent+imprinting+control+region+at+the+Arabidopsis+MEDEA+locus.">Identification of a DNA methylation-independent imprinting control region at the Arabidopsis MEDEA locus.</a> Genes Dev. 26, 1837-1850 (2012).</li><li>Raissig, M. T., Baroux, C., Grossniklaus, U. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Regulation+and+Flexibility+of+Genomic+Imprinting+during+Seed+Development.">Regulation and Flexibility of Genomic Imprinting during Seed Development.</a> Plant Cell. 23, 16-26 (2011).</li><li>Rea, M., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Determination+of+DNA+methylation+of+imprinted+genes+in+Arabidopsis+endosperm.">Determination of DNA methylation of imprinted genes in Arabidopsis endosperm.</a> J. 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R., Schubert, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Interphase+chromosomes+in+Arabidopsis+are+organized+as+well+defined+chromocenters+from+which+euchromatin+loops+emanate.">Interphase chromosomes in Arabidopsis are organized as well defined chromocenters from which euchromatin loops emanate.</a> Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 14584-14589 (2002).</li><li>Morris, J., Singh, J. M., Eberwine, J. H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Transcriptome+analysis+of+single+cells.">Transcriptome analysis of single cells.</a> J. Vis. Exp. (50), e2634 (2011).</li><li>Nodine, M. D., Bartel, D. 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The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

We developed an embryo isolation protocol that is rapid, effective, and can be easily transferred to other laboratories.
The equipment described here consists of an inverted microscope, a micromanipulator, glass microcapillaries, a vertical filament puller and a microinjector (Figure 3A). The setup is similar to the one described for single animal cell isolation for transcriptomics analyses 17. We also successfully worked with a more basic setup where glass microcap...

The embryo of flowering plants is surrounded by the endosperm, a nutritive tissue derived from a second fertilization event. Both embryo and endosperm are surrounded by several cell layers of the seed coat. Collectively these tissues form a seed, which develop inside the fruit. Thus, tissue- and cell-specific analyses of Arabidopsis embryos are strongly impaired due their inaccessibility. Nevertheless, embryos at the late-globular or later stages are relatively well amenable to manual dissection by using fine tungsten needles under the stereomicroscope, or by applying slight pressure on the seed using forceps to extract them. Such techniques were successfully used for transcriptome or epigenome profiling analyses such as microarray hybridization, bisulfite sequencing, or RNA sequencing (e.g. 1-3). In contrast, studies of embryos at the zygote to early globular stage remain technically challenging. To date, only a few studies have reported transcriptome analyses on young embryos using either laser-capture microdissection (LCM) of embryonic tissues from fixed seed sections 4 or manual extraction of individual embryos from within seeds using fine tools 5. However, LCM equipment is not commonly available and manual embryo extraction at early stages is time consuming and requiring excellent dissection skills that are not easily transferable. In addition to genome-wide analyses, in situ gene expression analyses are also difficult to perform on young, whole-mount embryos of Arabidopsis. To some extent, young embryos can be released on microscope slides by gentle pressure on the seeds and used for reporter gene assays or protein detection by immunostaining (for example see 6,7). This technique, however, does not allow high-throughput embryo isolation, thus hindering quantitative analyses.
Therefore, we developed an efficient and rapid protocol for early embryo isolation from Arabidopsis seeds that is simple to set up, easily transferable, and suitable for a variety of downstream applications. The basic principle is to gently crush seeds - dissected from young siliques in an Eppendorf tube using a plastic pestle in an appropriate isolation buffer. The seed extract is placed in droplets on a multi-well slide and is screened for the presence of released embryos at the desired stage using an inverted microscope. Embryos are collected using a glass microcapillary attached to a microinjector or a standard laboratory pipette. For molecular applications, embryos are washed twice by repeated release into drops of new isolation buffer before transferring them to the destination buffer in a minimal volume. For cytological applications (reporter assays, immunostaining, FISH), washing steps can be omitted.
The method offers several advantages: (i) it yields 25-40 embryos in ~45 min for cytological applications or in 3-4 hr for molecular applications (including the washing steps), (ii) it allows isolation of specific embryonic stages, (iii) it is easily transferable to other persons and laboratories due to its simple setup, (iv) it requires affordable equipment for the basic setup which is amenable to upgrades, and (v) it was successfully used for various downstream applications such as RNA sequencing 8, gene-specific DNA-methylation analysis 9, reporter assays (10 and Raissig et al., in prep.), and FISH (J. Jaenisch, U. Grossniklaus, C. Baroux unpublished, see Figure 5).

<table border="1">
	<tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Name of the Reagent</td>
 <td>Company</td>
 <td>Catalogue Number</td>
 <td>Comments (optional)</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td>REAGENTS</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Sigmacote</td>
 <td>SIGMA </td>
 <td>SL2-100 ml</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>RNAse OUT</td>
 <td>Invitrogen (life technologies)</td>
 <td>10777-019</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>First- strand buffer</td>
 <td>Invitrogen (life technologies)</td>
 <td>18064-022</td>
 <td>contained in Superscript II package</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DTT</td>
 <td>Invitrogen (life technologies)</td>
 <td>18064-022</td>
 <td>contained in Superscript II package</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Bovine serum albumin (BSA) 100x =10 mg/ml </td>
 <td>New England Biolabs Inc.</td>
 <td></td>
 <td>Different suppliers will also work </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Thin wall Capillaries 1.0 mm</td>
 <td>World Precision Instruments</td>
 <td>TW100F-4</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DNA LoBind tube 0.5 ml</td>
 <td>Vaudaux-Eppendorf</td>
 <td>0030108.035</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>CellTrics&Delta; 30 &mu;m</td>
 <td>PARTEC</td>
 <td>04-0042-2316</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>5wells 10 mm diameter slides</td>
 <td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
 <td>63421-10</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Formaldehyde Solution</td>
 <td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
 <td>F1635</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Superfrost Plus slide</td>
 <td>Thermo Fisher</td>
 <td>J1800AMNZ</td>
 <td>Menzel-Gl&auml;ser</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Tris</td>
 <td>Amaresco</td>
 <td>0497</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>EDTA</td>
 <td>Applichem</td>
 <td>A2937</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Glycin</td>
 <td>Fluka</td>
 <td>50050</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>SDS pellets</td>
 <td>Roth</td>
 <td>CN30.3</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Micro Pestle</td>
 <td>VWR</td>
 <td>431-0094</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Microfine insulin syringes</td>
 <td>BD</td>
 <td>U-100</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DEPC</td>
 <td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
 <td>D5758</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Ethanol</td>
 <td>Schaurlau</td>
 <td>ET00102500</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Forceps N5</td>
 <td>Dumont</td>
 <td>0108-5</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Bioanalyzer Pico Chip</td>
 <td>Agilent Technologies</td>
 <td>5067-1513</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td>EQUIPMENT</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Inverted microscope</td>
 <td>Nikon TMS (Japan),</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Micromanipulator</td>
 <td>Leitz</td>
 <td></td>
 <td>Leica</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Micomanipulator Post mount LH1 probe</td>
 <td>Leica microsystems</td>
 <td>39430101</td>
 <td>Different brand will also do the work</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Vertical filament puller</td>
 <td>Sutter instrument</td>
 <td>P-20 model</td>
 <td>Other model are also suitable </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Cell Tram vario</td>
 <td>Vaudaux-Eppendorf</td>
 <td>5176.000.033</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Bioanalyzer</td>
 <td>Agilent Technologies</td>
 <td>2100</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Qubit Fluorometer</td>
 <td>Invitrogen (life technologies</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
	 </tbody>
 </table>

efficient and rapid isolation of early-stage embryos from arabidopsis thaliana seeds

In flowering plants, the embryo develops within a nourishing tissue - the endosperm - surrounded by the maternal seed integuments (or seed coat). As a consequence, the isolation of plant embryos at early stages (1 cell to globular stage) is technically challenging due to their relative inaccessibility. Efficient manual dissection at early stages is strongly impaired by the small size of young Arabidopsis seeds and the adhesiveness of the embryo to the surrounding tissues. Here, we describe a method that allows the efficient isolation of young Arabidopsis embryos, yielding up to 40 embryos in 1 hr to 4 hr, depending on the downstream application. Embryos are released into isolation buffer by slightly crushing 250-750 seeds with a plastic pestle in an Eppendorf tube. A glass microcapillary attached to either a standard laboratory pipette (via a rubber tube) or a hydraulically controlled microinjector is used to collect embryos from droplets placed on a multi-well slide on an inverted light microscope. The technical skills required are simple and easily transferable, and the basic setup does not require costly equipment. Collected embryos are suitable for a variety of downstream applications such as RT-PCR, RNA sequencing, DNA methylation analyses, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), immunostaining, and reporter gene assays.

Our embryo isolation procedure (Figure 1) allows isolation of up to 40 embryos in 4 hr if washes are performed, e.g. for molecular applications, or in less than an hour if washes are omitted, e.g. for cytological applications. Figure 2 displays high and low quality microcapillary tips and Figure 3 shows the setup of the embryo isolation machine. Figure 4 displays the process of embryo isolation on the inverted microscope.
<p class="...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Efficient and Rapid Isolation of Early-stage Embryos from Arabidopsis thaliana Seeds at JoVE.com

Efficient and Rapid Isolation of Early-stage Embryos from Arabidopsis thaliana Seeds

We report an efficient and simple method to isolate embryos at early stages of development from Arabidopsis thaliana seeds. Up to 40 embryos can be isolated in 1 hr to 4 hr, depending on the downstream application. The procedure is suitable for transcriptome, DNA methylation, reporter gene expression, immunostaining and fluorescence in situ hybridization analyses.

Efficient and Rapid Isolation of Early-stage Embryos from Arabidopsis thaliana Seeds

In flowering plants, the embryo develops within a nourishing tissue - the endosperm - surrounded by the maternal seed integuments (or seed coat). As a ...

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17.7K Views.  University of Zürich. Riportiamo un metodo semplice ed efficace per isolare gli embrioni nelle prime fasi di sviluppo da Arabidopsis thaliana Semi. Fino a 40 embrioni possono essere isolati in 1 ora a 4 ore, a seconda dell'applicazione a valle. La procedura è adatta per transcriptome, metilazione del DNA, l'espressione del gene reporter, immunostaining e fluorescenza In situ Analisi di ibridazione.

Video: Efficient and Rapid Isolation of Early-stage Embryos from Arabidopsis thaliana Seeds

Placing Growth Factor-Coated Beads on Early Stage Chicken Embryos

The neural tube expresses many proteins in specific spatiotemporal patterns during development. These proteins have been shown to be critical for cell fate determination, cell migration, and formation of neural circuits. Neuronal induction and patterning involve bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), sonic hedgehog (SHH), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), among others. In particular, the expression pattern of Fgf8 is in close proximity to regions expressing BMP4 and SHH. This expression pattern is consistent with developmental interactions that facilitate patterning in the telencephalon.

Here we provide a visual demonstration of a method in which an in ovo preparation can be used to test the effects of Fgfs in the formation of the forebrain. Beads are coated with protein and placed in the developing neural tube to provide sustained exposure. Because the procedure uses small, carefully placed beads, it is minimally invasive and allows several beads to be placed within a single neural tube. Moreover, the method allows for continued development so that embryos can be analyzed at a more mature stage to detect changes in anatomy and in neural patterning. This simple but useful protocol allows for real time imaging. It provides a means to make spatially and temporally limited changes to endogenous protein levels.

A variety of growth factors and proteins interact to induce cells to take on different cell fates during development. Here we demonstrate the use of an in ovo preparation to address possible interactions between different proteins in development by placing beads on E2.5 chick embryos.

The neural tube expresses many proteins in specific spatiotemporal patterns during development.   These proteins have been shown to be critical for cell ...

Isolation of Protoplasts from Tissues of 14-day-old Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana

Protoplasts are plant cells that have had their cell walls enzymatically removed. Isolation of protoplasts from different plant tissues was first reported more than 40 years ago 1 and has since been adapted to study a variety of cellular processes, such as subcellular localization of proteins, isolation of intact organelles and targeted gene-inactivation by double stranded RNA interference (RNAi) 2-5. Most of the protoplast isolation protocols use leaf tissues of mature Arabidopsis (e.g. 35-day-old plants) 2-4. We modified existing protocols by employing 14-day-old Arabidopsis seedlings. In this procedure, one gram of 14-day-old seedlings yielded 5 106-107 protoplasts that remain intact at least 96 hours. The yield of protoplasts from seedlings is comparable with preparations from leaves of mature Arabidopsis, but instead of 35-36 days, isolation of protoplasts is completed in 15 days. This allows decreasing the time and growth chamber space that are required for isolating protoplasts when mature plants are used, and expedites the downstream studies that require intact protoplasts.

Isolation of Protoplasts from Tissues of 14-day-old Seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana

This video shows a procedure for isolating intact protoplasts from tissues of 14-day-old seedlings of Arabidopsis. Given that the isolated protoplasts remain intact for at least 96h and are isolated from seedlings instead of one-month-old mature plants, this procedure expedites assays requiring intact protoplasts.

Protoplasts are plant cells that have had their cell walls enzymatically removed. Isolation of protoplasts  from different plant tissues was first ...

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for Tissue-specific Genes using Early-stage Mouse Embryos

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a powerful tool to identify protein:chromatin interactions that occur in the context of living cells 1-3. This technique has been widely exploited in tissue culture cells, and to a lesser extent, in primary tissue. The application of ChIP to rodent embryonic tissue, especially at early times of development, is complicated by the limited amount of tissue and the heterogeneity of cell and tissue types in the embryo. Here we present a method to perform ChIP using a dissociated embryonic day 8.5 (E8.5) embryo. Sheared chromatin from a single E8.5 embryo can be divided into up to five aliquots, which allows the investigator sufficient material for controls and for investigation of specific protein:chromatin interactions.
We have utilized this technique to begin to document protein:chromatin interactions during the specification of tissue-specific gene expression programs. The heterogeneity of cell types in an embryo necessarily restricts the application of this technique because the result is the detection of protein:chromatin interactions without distinguishing whether the interactions occur in all, a subset of, or a single cell type(s). However, examination of tissue-specific genes during or following the onset of tissue-specific gene expression is feasible for two reasons. First, immunoprecipitation of tissue specific factors necessarily isolates chromatin from the cell type where the factor is expressed. Second, immunoprecipitation of coactivators and histones containing post-translational modifications that are associated with gene activation should only be found at genes and gene regulatory sequences in the cell type where the gene is being or has been activated. The technique should be applicable to the study of most tissue-specific gene activation events.
In the example described below, we utilized E8.5 and E9.5 mouse embryos to examine factor binding at a skeletal muscle specific gene promoter. Somites, which are the precursor tissues from which the skeletal muscles of the trunk and limbs will form, are present at E8.5-9.54,5. Myogenin is a regulatory factor required for skeletal muscle differentiation 6-9. The data demonstrate that myogenin is associated with its own promoter in E8.5 and E9.5 embryos. Because myogenin is only expressed in somites at this stage of development 6,10, the data indicate that myogenin interactions with its own promoter have already occurred in skeletal muscle precursor cells in E8.5 embryos.

We demonstrate a chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) method to identify factor interactions at tissue-specific genes during or after the onset of tissue-specific gene expression in mouse embryonic tissue. This protocol should be widely applicable for the study of tissue-specific gene activation as it occurs during normal embryonic development.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a powerful tool to identify protein:chromatin interactions that occur in the context of living cells 1-3. This ...

Isolation and Purification of Kinesin from Drosophila Embryos

Motor proteins move cargos along microtubules, and transport them to specific sub-cellular locations. Because altered transport is suggested to underlie a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, understanding microtubule based motor transport and its regulation will likely ultimately lead to improved therapeutic approaches. Kinesin-1 is a eukaryotic motor protein which moves in an anterograde (plus-end) direction along microtubules (MTs), powered by ATP hydrolysis. Here we report a detailed purification protocol to isolate active full length kinesin from Drosophila embryos, thus allowing the combination of Drosophila genetics with single-molecule biophysical studies. Starting with approximately 50 laying cups, with approximately 1000 females per cup, we carried out overnight collections. This provided approximately 10 ml of packed embryos. The embryos were bleach dechorionated (yielding approximately 9 grams of embryos), and then homogenized. After disruption, the homogenate was clarified using a low speed spin followed by a high speed centrifugation. The clarified supernatant was treated with GTP and taxol to polymerize MTs. Kinesin was immobilized on polymerized MTs by adding the ATP analog, 5'-adenylyl imidodiphosphate at room temperature. After kinesin binding, microtubules were sedimented via high speed centrifugation through a sucrose cushion. The microtubule pellet was then re-suspended, and this process was repeated. Finally, ATP was added to release the kinesin from the MTs. High speed centrifugation then spun down the MTs, leaving the kinesin in the supernatant. This kinesin was subjected to a centrifugal filtration using a 100 KD cut off filter for further purification, aliquoted, snap frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at -80 &deg;C. SDS gel electrophoresis and western blotting was performed using the purified sample. The motor activity of purified samples before and after the final centrifugal filtration step was evaluated using an in vitro single molecule microtubule assay. The kinesin fractions before and after the centrifugal filtration showed processivity as previously reported in literature. Further experiments are underway to evaluate the interaction between kinesin and other transport related proteins.

Isolation and Purification of Kinesin from Drosophila Embryos

This is a protocol to isolate active full length Kinesin from Drosophila embryos for single-molecule biophysical studies. We show how to collect embryos, make the embryo lysate, and then polymerize microtubules (MTs). Kinesin is purified by immobilizing it on the MTs, spinning down the Kinesin-MT complexes, and then releasing the kinesin from the MTs via ATP addition.

Motor proteins move cargos along microtubules, and transport them to specific sub-cellular locations. Because altered transport is suggested to underlie a ...

Histochemical Staining of Arabidopsis thaliana Secondary Cell Wall Elements

Arabidopsis thaliana is a model organism commonly used to understand and manipulate various cellular processes in plants, and it has been used extensively in the study of secondary cell wall formation. Secondary cell wall deposition occurs after the primary cell wall is laid down, a process carried out exclusively by specialized cells such as those forming vessel and fiber tissues. Most secondary cell walls are composed of cellulose (40&#8211;50%), hemicellulose (25&#8211;30%), and lignin (20&#8211;30%). Several mutations affecting secondary cell wall biosynthesis have been isolated, and the corresponding mutants may or may not exhibit obvious biochemical composition changes or visual phenotypes since these mutations could be masked by compensatory responses. Staining procedures have historically been used to show differences on a cellular basis. These methods are exclusively visual means of analysis; nevertheless their role in rapid and critical analysis is of great importance. Congo red and calcofluor white are stains used to detect polysaccharides, whereas M&#228;ule and phloroglucinol are commonly used to determine differences in lignin, and toluidine blue O is used to differentially stain polysaccharides and lignin. The seemingly simple techniques of sectioning, staining, and imaging can be a challenge for beginners. Starting with sample preparation using the A. thaliana model, this study details the protocols of a variety of staining methodologies that can be easily implemented for observation of cell and tissue organization in secondary cell walls of plants.

Histochemical Staining of Arabidopsis thaliana Secondary Cell Wall Elements

Plant cell wall composition varies between tissue types and can include lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectin. Various staining techniques have been developed to visualize differences at the cell-type level. This paper is a compilation of commonly used cell wall staining techniques.

Arabidopsis thaliana is a model organism commonly used to understand and manipulate various cellular processes in plants, and it has been used extensively ...

Standardized Method for High-throughput Sterilization of Arabidopsis Seeds

Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) seedlings often need to be grown on sterile media. This requires prior seed sterilization to prevent the growth of microbial contaminants present on the seed surface. Currently, Arabidopsis seeds are sterilized using two distinct sterilization techniques in conditions that differ slightly between labs and have not been standardized, often resulting in only partially effective sterilization or in excessive seed mortality. Most of these methods are also not easily scalable to a large number of seed lines of diverse genotypes. As technologies for high-throughput analysis of Arabidopsis continue to proliferate, standardized techniques for sterilizing large numbers of seeds of different genotypes are becoming essential for conducting these types of experiments. The response of a number of Arabidopsis lines to two different sterilization techniques was evaluated based on seed germination rate and the level of seed contamination with microbes and other pathogens. The treatments included different concentrations of sterilizing agents and times of exposure, combined to determine optimal conditions for Arabidopsis seed sterilization. Optimized protocols have been developed for two different sterilization methods: bleach (liquid-phase) and chlorine (Cl2) gas (vapor-phase), both resulting in high seed germination rates and minimal microbial contamination. The utility of these protocols was illustrated through the testing of both wild type and mutant seeds with a range of germination potentials. Our results show that seeds can be effectively sterilized using either method without excessive seed mortality, although detrimental effects of sterilization were observed for seeds with lower than optimal germination potential. In addition, an equation was developed to enable researchers to apply the standardized chlorine gas sterilization conditions to airtight containers of different sizes. The protocols described here allow easy, efficient, and inexpensive seed sterilization for a large number of Arabidopsis lines.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of bleach and chlorine gas sterilization on seed germination of a range of Arabidopsis genotypes grown on sterile media. Optimized sterilization protocols have been developed to prevent the growth of microbial contaminants while providing satisfactory seed survival.

Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) seedlings often need to be grown on sterile media. This requires prior seed sterilization to prevent the growth of ...

Spatiotemporal Investigation of ERL1 Dynamics via Confocal Imaging

Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells

In eukaryotic cells, membrane components, including proteins and lipids, are spatiotemporally transported to their destination within the endomembrane system. This includes the secretory transport of newly synthesized proteins to the cell surface or the outside of the cell, the endocytic transport of extracellular cargoes or plasma membrane components into the cell, and the recycling or shuttling transport of cargoes between the subcellular organelles, etc. Membrane trafficking events are crucial to the development, growth, and environmental adaptation of all eukaryotic cells and, thus, are under stringent regulation. Cell-surface receptor kinases, which perceive ligand signals from the extracellular space, undergo both secretory and endocytic transport. Commonly used approaches to study the membrane trafficking events using a plasma membrane-localized leucine-rich-repeat receptor kinase, ERL1, are described here. The approaches include plant material preparation, pharmacological treatment, and confocal imaging setup. To monitor the spatiotemporal regulation of ERL1, this study describes the co-localization analysis between ERL1 and a multi-vesicular body marker protein, RFP-Ara7, the time series analysis of these two proteins, and the z-stack analysis of ERL1-YFP treated with the membrane trafficking inhibitors brefeldin A and wortmannin.

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells  

Several commonly used methods are introduced here to study the membrane trafficking events of a plasma membrane receptor kinase. This manuscript describes detailed protocols including the plant material preparation, pharmacological treatment, and confocal imaging setup.

In eukaryotic cells, membrane components, including proteins and lipids, are spatiotemporally transported to their destination within the endomembrane ...

An Improved Method to Measure Pollen Hydration Profiles in &lt;em&gt;Arabidopsis thaliana&lt;/em&gt;

A High-Resolution, Single-Grain, In Vivo Pollen Hydration Bioassay for Arabidopsis thaliana

Sexual reproduction in flowering plants requires initial interaction between the pollen grain and the stigmatic surface, where a molecular dialog is established between the interacting partners. Studies across a range of species have revealed that a series of molecular checkpoints regulate the pollen-stigma interaction to ensure that only compatible, generally intraspecific pollen is successful in effecting fertilization. In species that possess a 'dry stigma', such as the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the first post-pollination, prezygotic compatibility checkpoint is the establishment of pollen hydration. 
This phase of pollination is tightly regulated, whereby signals from the pollen grain elicit the release of water from the stigma, thus permitting pollen hydration. The ability to accurately measure and track pollen hydration over time is key to the design of experiments directed at understanding the regulation of this critical step in reproduction. Published protocols frequently utilize flowers that have been excised from the parent plant, maintained on liquid or solid media, and bulk pollinated. 
This paper describes a noninvasive, in vivo pollination bioassay that permits minute-by-minute hydration tracking of individual A. thaliana pollen grains at high resolution. The assay is highly reproducible, able to detect very subtle variations of pollen hydration profiles, and thus is suitable for the analysis of mutants that affect pathways regulating pollination. Although the protocol is lengthier than those described for bulk pollinations, the precision and reproducibility it provides, along with its in vivo nature, make it ideal for the detailed dissection of pollination phenotypes.

Author Spotlight: A High-Resolution, Single-Grain, In Vivo Pollen Hydration Bioassay for Arabidopsis thaliana  

An improved method to measure pollen hydration profiles in Arabidopsis thaliana is described here. The new method offers higher resolution, is noninvasive, and is highly reproducible. The protocol represents a new tool for a finer dissection of the processes that regulate the early stages of pollination.

Sexual reproduction in flowering plants requires initial interaction between the pollen grain and the stigmatic surface, where a molecular dialog is ...

Pollen Hydration Assay in Arabidopsis thaliana: Raw Data Acquisition and its Measurements

Pollen Hydration Assay in Arabidopsis thaliana: Raw Data Acquisition and its Measurements  

Begin the assay by laying the labeled A.thaliana pollen recipient plant on its side, positioning the emasculated flower on the stage of an inverted microscope to image the stigma. To fix the position of the emasculated recipient flower, immobilize the stem using strips of masking tape. From the pollen donor plant, remove a healthy and freshly-opened flower and place the pollen donor plant under a dissecting microscope.Gather pollen grains using fine-tipped forceps. Remove excess pollen grains by lightly touching the forceps against the donor petals until the pollen grain's monolayer is formed. Return to the pollen recipient plant and use a low power objective lens to focus the inverted microscope on the stigma.Holding the forceps along the opening between the arms of the forceps, carefully approach and unpollinated stigmatic papilla cell. Continue approaching the unpollinated stigmatic papilla cell until the suitably positioned pollen grain on the forceps makes light contact with its surface. Once pollen attachment is confirmed, slowly withdraw the forceps.Orient the pollen grain with its equatorial axis visible and in sharp focus, and immediately switch to a higher power objective lens, like 20x. Capture the first pollen grain image as T-0, and continue capturing images at one-minute intervals for 10 minutes. Adjust the focus to accommodate small movements in the pollen grain or stigma.Record the room's ambient temperature and relative humidity every two minutes, allowing future comparisons between experimental replicates. Save the images in a lossless format, such as ND2, before repeating the pollination and imaging steps for additional pollen grains to acquire data for control and experimental pollinations. Begin the data measurements for pollen hydration assay using image analysis software.Use similar parameters of digital zoom and the approach defining the pollen boundary for all measurements in the datasets. Record the semiminor axis values for all time points in the dataset. Once the measurements are complete for a dataset, export the raw semiminor axis values of each individual time point to a spreadsheet.Present the data in columns per image stack and calculate the percentage semiminor axis change. Repeat the steps and obtain data from at least 15 hydrated pollen grains for each plant line. A few pollen grains may fail to hydrate or may hydrate significantly slower than expected.They're known as dud grains. Exclude these from the dataset. Calculate the mean values for each time point per plant using the specialized software package GraphPad Prism.Analyze the hydration data from wild-type and mutant lines at each time point using unpaired T-test and one-way ANOVA to compare the means of the specific time point of interest. To compare the means across all the time points, perform multiple T-tests between wild-type and mutant lines across multiple time points. The pollen hydration time series data for wild-type plants collected on different days showed that the minimum and maximum values for the means between replicates for all time points were within 3%This representative data for wild-type pollinations demonstrated a high degree of consistency for relatively low sample numbers and across different days.

﻿Preparation of Dual-Colored F1 Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

Preparation of Dual-Colored F1 Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana  

To begin, grow homozygous transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants bearing ERL1-YFP and a red fluorescent protein, or RFP-labeled marker protein RFP ARA7 side-by-side in a growth room until flowering. On the young inflorescence of plant A, remove all the older flowers and calyx, except for one recently opened flower. Carefully remove the younger flowers and floral merostems.In the recently opened flower, remove the sepals, petals, and stamen using a pair of sharp tweezers, leaving only the pistil on the inflorescence. From plant B, take mature stamen from an opened flower and deposit the pollen grains into the stigma of the dissected pistil of plant A.Label this manually crossed flower, indicating its parents and the date of the genetic cross. When the calyx turns yellow or brown, harvest the F1 seeds to check for a successful F1 plant having yellow fluorescent protein, or YFP, and RFP signals.