Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1984 Jul;75(3):534–538. doi: 10.1104/pp.75.3.534

Tunicamycin Prevents Cellulose Microfibril Formation in Oocystis solitaria1

Hartmut Quader 1,2
PMCID: PMC1066950  PMID: 16663661

Abstract

The effect of tunicamycin (TM) on the development of the cell wall in Oocystis solitaria has been investigated. It was found that 10 micromolar TM completely stops the assembly of new microfibrils as observed at the ultrastructural level. During cell wall formation, freeze fracture replicas of the E-face of the plasma membrane reveal two major substructures: the terminal complexes (TC), paired and unpaired, and the microfibril imprints extending from unpaired TCs. In cells treated for 3 hours or longer with TM, the TCs are no longer visible, whereas microfibril imprints are still present. Because of the reported highly selective mode of action of TM, our results implicate a role for lipid-intermediates in cellulose synthesis in O. solitaria. It is assumed that TM prevents the formation of a glycoprotein which probably is a fundamental part of the TCs and may act as a primer for the assembly of the microfibrils.

Full text

PDF
534

Images in this article

535Fig. 1
on p.535
536Fig. 2
on p.536

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brown R. M., Jr, Montezinos D. Cellulose microfibrils: visualization of biosynthetic and orienting complexes in association with the plasma membrane. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 Jan;73(1):143–147. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.1.143. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. García R. C., Recondo E., Dankert M. Polysaccharide biosynthesis in Acetobacter xylinum. Enzymatic synthesis of lipid diphosphate and monophospate sugars. Eur J Biochem. 1974 Mar 15;43(1):93–105. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1974.tb03389.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hasilik A., Tanner W. Carbohydrate moiety of carboxypeptidase Y and perturbation of its biosynthesis. Eur J Biochem. 1978 Nov 15;91(2):567–575. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1978.tb12710.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hopp H. E., Romero P. A., Daleo G. R., Pont Lezica R. Synthesis of cellulose precursors. The involvement of lipid-linked sugars. Eur J Biochem. 1978 Mar 15;84(2):561–571. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1978.tb12199.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. KHAN A. W., COLVIN J. R. Synthesis of bacterial cellulose from labeled precursor. Science. 1961 Jun 23;133(3469):2014–2015. doi: 10.1126/science.133.3469.2014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lehle L., Tanner W. The specific site of tunicamycin inhibition in the formation of dolichol-bound N-acetylglucosamine derivatives. FEBS Lett. 1976 Nov 15;72(1):167–170. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(76)80922-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Quader H. Morphology and movement of cellulose synthesizing (terminal) complexes in Oocystis solitaria: evidence that microfibril assembly is the motive force. Eur J Cell Biol. 1983 Nov;32(1):174–177. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Quader H., Wagenbreth I., Robinson D. G. Structure, synthesis and orientation of microfibrils. V. On the recovery of Oocystis solitaria from microtubule inhibitor treatment. Cytobiologie. 1978 Oct;18(1):39–51. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Robinson D. G., Quader H. Structure, synthesis, and orientation of microfibrils. IX. A freeze-fracture investigation of the Oocystis plasma membrane after inhibitor treatments. Eur J Cell Biol. 1981 Oct;25(2):278–288. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Schwaiger H., Tanner W. Effects of gibberellic acid and of tunicamycin on glycosyl-transferase activities and on alpha-amylase secretion in barley. Eur J Biochem. 1979 Dec 17;102(2):375–381. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1979.tb04252.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Plant Physiology are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES