Visualization of Plant Microtubules

Microtubules (MTs) are highly dynamic components of the cell cytoskeleton that are involved in many important processes such as cell division (chromosome movement, formation of preprophase band, phragmoplast, cortical band before preprophase, etc.), cellular transport (endocytosis, exocytosis, organelle movement: nuclei, chloroplasts, amyloplasts, etc.), and growth and differentiation (transport of cellulose precursors to the cell wall to form cellulose microfibrils, transition from division to expansion, stomata movement, etc.). Studying these cytoskeleton components is not only useful for understanding the mechanisms of cellular organization, but for understanding the response of cells to different stimuli that are known to change the microtubule array configuration. The knowledge of the microtubule dynamics opens the door to novel technical applications.