Oil bodies (OBs) are seed-specific lipid storage organelles that allow the accumulation of neutral lipids that sustain plantlet development after the onset of germination. Using fluorescent dyes and confocal microscopy, we monitored the dynamics of OBs in living Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) embryos at different stages of development (Miquel et al., 2014). Image acquisition was followed by a detailed statistical analysis of OB size and distribution during seed development in the four dimensions (x, y, z, and t).
Arabidopsis thaliana plants, wild type or mutant or transgenic plants.
Developing siliques between 6 and 11 days after pollination of plants grown in a greenhouse under the following conditions (13 h of light, diurnal temperature of 25 °C, and nocturnal temperature of 17 °C), and irrigated twice per week with mineral nutrient solution.
Nile Red (a neutral lipid stain, at 2 μg/ml final in acetone) (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: 72485 )
Equipment
Confocal microscope Note: In this study an inverted LEICA SP2-AOBS spectral confocal laser microscope (Leica Microsystems) equipped with an HCX PL APO CS 40 x 1.25 objective and a multiline argon laser was used.
Forceps (Dumont No.5) (Sigma-Aldrich)
Scalpel (11 P, blade) (Swann Norton)
Glass slides or glass-bottom dish, cover slips
Binocular (Nikon Corporation, model: SMZ1000 ) (Champigny sur Marne with a led ring - Shott easyledTM for illumination)
Readers should cite both the Bio-protocol article and the original research article where this protocol was used:
Miquel, M., Trigui, G., Trubuil, A. and Dubreucq, B. (2015). Imaging and Quantitative Analysis of Size and Distribution of Spherical Bodies, e.g. Embryonic Oil Bodies. Bio-protocol 5(1): e1369. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.1369.