Photobody Detection Using Immunofluorescence and Super-Resolution Imaging in Arabidopsis

Light triggers changes in plant nuclear architecture to control differentiation, adaptation, and growth. A series of genetic, molecular, and imaging approaches have revealed that the nucleus forms a hub for photo-induced protein interactions and gene regulatory events. However, the mechanism and function of light-induced nuclear compartmentalization is still unclear. This chapter provides detailed experimental protocols for examining the morphology and potential functional significance of light signaling components that localize in light-induced subnuclear domains, also known as photobodies. We describe how immunolabeling of endogenous proteins and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) could be combined with confocal imaging of fluorescently tagged proteins to assess co-localization in Arabidopsis nuclei. Furthermore, we employ a super-resolution imaging approach to study the morphology of photobodies at unprecedented detail.