Chloroplast movement

Abstract

Chloroplast movement is important for plant survival under high light and for efficient photosynthesis under low light. This review introduces recent knowledge on chloroplast movement and shows how to analyze the responses and the moving mechanisms, potentially inspiring research in this field. Avoidance from the strong light is mediated by blue light receptor phototropin 2 (phot2) plausibly localized on the chloroplast envelop and accumulation at the week light-irradiated area is mediated by phot1 and phot2 localized on the plasma membrane. Chloroplasts move by chloroplast actin (cp-actin) filaments that must be polymerized by Chloroplast Unusual Positioning1 (CHUP1) at the front side of moving chloroplast. To understand the signal transduction pathways and the mechanism of chloroplast movement, that is, from light capture to motive force-generating mechanism, various methods should be employed based on the various aspects. Observation of chloroplast distribution pattern under different light condition by fixed cell sectioning is somewhat an old-fashioned technique but the most basic and important way. However, most importantly, precise chloroplast behavior during and just after the induction of chloroplast movement by partial cell irradiation using an irradiator with either low light or strong light microbeam should be recorded by time lapse photographs under infrared light and analyzed. Recently various factors involved in chloroplast movement, such as cp-actin filaments and CHUP1, could be traced in Arabidopsis transgenic lines with fluorescent protein tags under a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and/or a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM). These methods are listed and their advantages and disadvantages are evaluated.

Keywords: Actin filaments; Blue light; Chloroplast; Microbeam irradiation; Movement; Phototropin; TIRFM; chloroplast-actin filaments; cp-actin filaments; total internal reflection fluorescence microscope.