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Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access originally published online on June 13, 2007
Plant and Cell Physiology 2007 48(7):1000-1009; doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm070
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Heat Stress: an Inducer of Programmed Cell Death in Chlorella saccharophila

Anna Zuppini*, Carlo Andreoli and Barbara Baldan

Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, via U. Bassi 58/B, 35131 Padova, Italy

*Corresponding author: E-mail, zuppini{at}bio.unipd.it; Fax, +39 049 8276280.


  Abstract

Programmed cell death (PCD) has been recognized as a fundamental cellular process conserved in metazoans, plants and yeast. However, the cellular mechanisms leading to PCD have not been fully elucidated in unicellular organisms. Evidence is presented that heat stress induces PCD in Chlorella saccharophila cells. Our results demonstrate that heat shock triggers a PCD pathway occurring with characteristics features such as chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, cell shrinkage and detachment of the plasma membrane from the cell wall, and suggest the presence of caspase 3-like activity. The caspase 3 inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO gave significant protection against heat shock-induced cell death. Moreover, a reduction in photosynthetic pigment contents associated with alteration of chloroplast morphology and a fairly rapid disappearance of the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit and the light-harvesting complex of PSII have been observed. The timing of events in the signaling cascade associated with the C. saccharophila heat shock PCD response is discussed. Insights into this field may have general implications for understanding the pathway of cell death in unicellular green algae.

Keywords: Caspase 3-like - Chlorella saccharophila - Chloroplast - Heat stress - Programmed cell death

Abbreviations: DCF, 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin; DMSO, dimethylsulfoxide; H2DCFDA, 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate; HO, Hoechst 33342; HS, heat shock; LHCII, light-harvesting complex of PSII; PCD, programmed cell death; pNA, p-nitroaniline; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; ROS, reactive oxygen species; Rubisco, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase; rbcL, Rubisco large subunit; TdT, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase; TEM, transmission electron microscopy; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling.

(Received January 9, 2007; Accepted June 3, 2007)
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