Detection and Quantification of Programmed Cell Death in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: The Example of...

Chlamydomonas (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) is a unicellular model alga that has been shown to undergo programmed cell death (PCD) that can be triggered in response to different stresses. We have recently shown that Chlamydomonas is particularly well suited to the study and quantification of PCD. We have shown for the first time that S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), a nitric oxide (NO) donor, is able to induce PCD and can be used as a study system in Chlamydomonas. In this article, we provide a simple and robust protocol for quantifying GSNO-induced PCD, which can be adapted to any other treatment. We explain how to detect NO production in the cell following GSNO treatment. We show how PCD can be identified simply by analyzing the degradation profile of genomic DNA. We also provide an easy and reproducible cell death quantification protocol, which makes it possible to follow the course of PCD over time and highlight very fine differences in the number of affected cells between different samples. Key features • Use of S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) as a means to study programmed cell death (PCD) in Chlamydomonas. • Discrimination of PCD vs. necrosis. • In vivo determination of NO production in the cell. • A simple, robust protocol for PCD quantification.