Abstract
BACKGROUND: The movement of organelles in root hairs primarily occurs along the actin cytoskeleton. Circulation and "reverse fountain" cytoplasmic streaming constitute the typical forms by which most organelles (such as mitochondria and the Golgi apparatus) in plant root hair cells engage in bidirectional movement. However, there remains a lack of in-depth research regarding the relationship between the distribution of the actin cytoskeleton and turnaround organelle movement in plant root hair cells. RESULTS: In this paper, Arabidopsis seedlings that had been stably transformed with a GFP-ABD2-GFP (green fluorescent protein-actin-binding domain 2-green fluorescent protein) construct were utilized to study the distribution of bundles of filamentous (F)-actin and the directed motion of mitochondria along these bundles in root hairs. Observations with a confocal laser scanning microscope revealed that there were widespread circular F-actin bundles in the epidermal cells and root hairs of Arabidopsis roots. In root hairs, these circular bundles primarily start at the sub-apical region, which is the location where the turnaround movement of organelles occurs. MitoTracker probes were used to label mitochondria, and the dynamic observation of root hair cells with a confocal laser scanning microscope indicated that turnaround mitochondrial movement occurred along circular F-actin bundles. CONCLUSIONS: Relevant experimental results demonstrated that the circular F-actin bundles provide a track for the turnaround and bidirectional movement of mitochondria.