Organization of cortical microtubules at the plasma membrane in Arabidopsis

To understand the role of microtubules in the regulation of cell elongation, we characterized microtubule patterns in fass, a cell shape mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Examining microtubule patterns via immunocytochemistry, we found that fass cells were able to organize their microtubules into mitotic spindles and phragmoplasts. During interphase or preprophase, fass cells had cortical microtubules, verified by transmission electron microscopy, but these microtubules were not organized into the cortical array or preprophase band. Using chromatin condensation and tubulin localization on the nuclear envelope as preprophase stage markers, we found that although fass cells lacked the preprophase band and cortical array, their cell division cycle appeared normal. To pinpoint the defect in fass cells, we delineated the sequential events leading to cortical array formation in Arabidopsis cells and found that fass cells initiated and recolonized cortical microtubules in the same manner as wild-type cells, but failed to order them into the cortical array. Taken together, these results suggest fass cells are impaired in a component of the microtubule organizing center(s) required for the proper ordering of cortical microtubules at the plasma membrane.