Controlling microtubule dynamics and spatial organization is a fundamental requirement of eukaryotic cell function. Members of the ORBIT/MAST/CLASP family of microtubule-associated proteins associate with the plus ends of microtubules, where they promote the addition of tubulin subunits into attached kinetochore fibers during mitosis and stabilize microtubules in the vicinity of the plasma membrane during interphase. To date, nothing is known about their function in plants. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis thaliana CLASP protein is a microtubule-associated protein that is involved in both cell division and cell expansion. Green fluorescent protein–CLASP localizes along the full length of microtubules and shows enrichment at growing plus ends. Our analysis suggests that CLASP promotes microtubule stability. clasp-1 T-DNA insertion mutants are hypersensitive to microtubule-destabilizing drugs and exhibit more sparsely populated, yet well ordered, root cortical microtubule arrays. Overexpression of CLASP promotes microtubule bundles that are resistant to depolymerization with oryzalin. Furthermore, clasp-1 mutants have aberrant microtubule preprophase bands, mitotic spindles, and phragmoplasts, indicating a role for At CLASP in stabilizing mitotic arrays. clasp-1 plants are dwarf, have significantly reduced cell numbers in the root division zone, and have defects in directional cell expansion. We discuss possible mechanisms of CLASP function in higher plants.

In higher plants, the preprophase band (PPB) of microtubules (MTs) forecasts the cell division site prior to mitosis and specifies the organization of MTs into a bipolar prophase spindle surrounding the nucleus. However, the mechanisms governing this PPB-dependent establishment of bipolarity are unclear. Here, we present evidence from live cell imaging studies that suggest a role for the MTs bridging the PPB and the prophase nucleus in mediating this function. Results from drug treatments, along with genetic evidence from null kinesin plants, suggest that these MTs contribute to the bipolarity, orientation, and position of the prophase spindle. Specifically, the absence of these bridge MTs is associated with lack of bipolarity, while non-uniform distributions of bridge MTs correlate with prophase spindle migration, deformation, and enhanced bipolarity toward the region of highest bridge MT density. This behavior does not require actomyosin-based forces, and is enhanced by suppressing MT dynamics with taxol. These observations occur during late prophase, and are coincident with the gradual closing of annular spindle poles. Based on these data, we describe a hypothetical mechanism for bridge MT-dependent organization of prophase spindles.

During cellular morphogenesis, changes in cell shape and cell junction topology are fundamental to normal tissue and organ development. Here we show that apoplastic Glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored Lipid Transfer Protein (LTPG) is excluded from cell junctions and flat wall regions, and passively accumulates around their borders in the epidermal cells of Arabidopsis thaliana. Beginning with intense accumulation beneath highly curved cell junction borders, this enrichment is gradually lost as cells become more bulbous during their differentiation. In fully mature epidermal cells, YFP-LTPG often shows a fibrous cellulose microfibril-like pattern within the bulging outer faces. Physical contact between a flat glass surface and bulbous cell surface induces rapid and reversible evacuation from contact sites and accumulation to the curved wall regions surrounding the contact borders. Thus, LTPG distribution is dynamic, responding to changes in cell shape and wall curvature during cell growth and differentiation. We hypothesize that this geometry-based mechanism guides wax-carrying LTPG to functional sites, where it may act to “seal” the vulnerable border surrounding cell-cell junctions and assist in cell wall fortification and cuticular wax deposition.