The elucidation of the relationship between the formation of stromule and salinity tolerance by 3D reconstruction

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H05613
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Crop production science
• Research Institution: Kindai University
• Principal Investigator: YAMANE Koji 近畿大学, 農学部, 准教授 (50580859)
• Research Collaborator: TANIGUCHI Mitsutaka 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 教授 (40231419) ; OI Takao 名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 助教 (60752219)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: イネ / 塩ストレス / 葉緑体 / 三次元再構築法 / 立体像

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The invagination structure of a chloroplast that surrounds organelles such as mitochondria and peroxisomes within a thin layer of chloroplast stroma is called a chloroplast pocket. Since it is expected that stromules, which are long tubules including stroma, might be involved in the formation, we constructed the three-dimensional architecture of chloroplast pockets by using serial images obtained by TEM and FIB-SEM. Three types of chloroplast pockets were observed by TEM: organelles were completely enclosed in a chloroplast pocket (enclosed type), a chloroplast pocket with a small gap in the middle part (gap type), and a chloroplast pocket with one side open (open type). Mitochondria and peroxisomes were often in contact with the chloroplast pockets. FIB-SEM revealed chloroplasts with a sheet structure partially surrounding peroxisomes. This fact suggests that chloroplasts might construct large sheet structures that would be related to the formation of chloroplast pockets.

Free Research Field

植物超微形態学