Glue Impressions of Maize Leaves and Their Use in Classifying Mutants

Maize cells are surrounded by cell walls that can be easily visualized using a simple protocol outlined below. A glue impression is an imprint of maize epidermal cells on a glass slide made using a cyanoacrylate-based glue (super glue) that produces a permanent record of the leaf (Wilson et al., 1981). Although we demonstrate use of this protocol with Zea mays (maize) leaves, the protocol can be easily adapted to other sturdy leaves. Briefly, the leaf blade is mounted in liquid cyanoacrylate glue on a glass slide and held still until the glue dries. The leaf is removed and the resulting glue impression is observed using a standard light microscope. The glue impression can be used to analyze epidermal cells for defects in patterning or division. Types of cell defects that are easily detected include cytokinesis defects, symmetric and asymmetric division plane orientation defects (Gallagher and Smith, 1999; Sylvester and Smith, 2009), lobing or crenulation defects (Frank and Smith, 2002) and aberrantly expanded cells (Reynolds et al., 1998; Hunter et al., 2012). Importantly, glue impressions are a simple, fast method to make a permanent record of maize leaves that require very little sample processing or special equipment.

Maize

Cytokinesis

Cell wall

Lobing

Cell expansion

Glue impression