About the Cover
On the Cover: Plant cells produce a unique cortical array located just underneath the plasma membrane. It consists of microtubules grouped in bundles that are usually coaligned in a transverse orientation relative to the long axis of the cell. The coalignment process is cell-autonomously evoked by proteins that control the dynamic behavior of microtubules. In this Focus Issue on the Plant Cytoskeleton, Van Damme et al. (pp. 3956-3967) coexpressed RFP-tagged tubulin protein (red signal) and GFP-tagged MAP65 proteins (green signal) in tobacco BY-2 cells to investigate the microtubule-binding properties of MAP65 proteins. The cover image illustrates the differential binding of cortical microtubules by two members of the AtMAP65family. Depending on the overall organization of the cortical array, AtMAP65-1-GFP (bottom two rows) and AtMAP65-5-GFP (top two rows) associated with a subset of microtubules. In cells containing both coaligned and oblique microtubules, AtMAP65-1-GFP and AtMAP65-5-GFP tended to be associated with the coaligned microtubules. In cells with a transverse arrangement of microtubules, the overlap with RFP-tubulin was nearly complete (yellow signal). By contrast, AtMAP65-4-GFPdid not associate with cortical microtubules but was specifically targeted to the spindle. Together, these data point to differential mechanisms controlling the microtubule-binding activity of MAP65 proteins. Cover composite designed by Daniel Van Damme and Danny Geelen (VIB, University Ghent, Belgium).
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Copyright © 2008 by the American Society of Plant Biologists
