Effects of Ga3 and Ca2+ on barley aleurone protoplasts: a freeze-fracture study

Freeze-fracture electron microscopy was used to study changes in the endomembrane system of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Himalaya) aleurone protoplasts. Protoplasts were used for this study because their response to calcium and the plant hormone gibberellic acid (Ga3) can be monitored prior to rapid freezing of cells for electron microscopy. Protoplasts incubated in Ga3 plus Ca2+ secrete elevated levels of a-amylase relative to cells incubated in Ga3 or Ca2+ alone. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus of protoplasts incubated in Ga3 plus Ca2+ undergo changes that are well correlated with the synthesis and secretion of a-amylase. The ER, which appears as short, single sheets …