The Identification and Characterization of New Small Molecule Probes of Cell Expansion and Cytokinesis

Abstract

Plant form and structure is remarkably diverse encompassing a myriad of shapes and sizes, and is a result of coordinated instances of cell growth and division. This varied form and structure represents adaptive strategies enabling plants to exploit and endure their environment maximizing fitness. Common to both cell growth and division processes, is the requirement of growth material and effectors via the secretory system. The secretory system is a dynamic pathway of organelles connected via vesicular traffic, responsible for protein modification and delivery. Challenges in studying secretion are related to its' dynamic flow between organelles, and the prevalence of redundancy and lethality, which cause difficulties in interpretation and genetic modulation.

To further our understanding of the secretory process, we employed a chemical genetic approach to identify small molecule probes of secretion by first screening for inhibitors of cell expansion, followed by a microscopy based screen of GFP marker lines for perturbagens of subcellular structures. Small molecules offer the advantages of temporal and spatial application, have been shown to overcome redundancy and can be varied in concentration to control the severity of effects. We identified twenty-five small molecule probes of secretion and pursued two chemicals with striking properties, polarazine and eroonazole. Polarazine was identified as a cell division inhibitor, affecting phragmoplast structure and function, while eroonazole remodels the endoplasmic reticulum into small vesicles and is implicated in auxin signaling. This approach shows the utility of small molecule probes in furthering our understanding of secretory processes.