High-light avoidance response of chloroplasts and reorganization of actin filaments are induced only in the exposed area to blue light in the epidermal cell of Vallisneria gigantea

In many plant cells, the positions of chloroplasts change in response to changes in light conditions. In the epidermal cells of the aquatic angiosperm Vallisneria gigantea, the avoidance response of chloroplasts is induced specifically by irradiation with blue light of high intensity. Possible roles of actin cytoskeleton in the blue-light-induced avoidance response of chloroplasts were investigated by partial irradiation and phalloidin staining. We showed that the blue-light-dependent redistribution of chloroplasts was induced only in the limited area, where exposed to blue light, even in individual cells. In addition. in the exposed area, the configuration of actin filaments strikingly changed compared with that before the irradiation. Short and thick bundles of actin filaments surrounding the chloroplasts changed to much longer and thinner bundles with a more stretched array. In contrast, in the unexposed area, neither the distribution of chloroplasts nor the configuration of actin filaments exhibited any changes. Cytochalasin D and latrunculin B inhibited the avoidance response of chloroplasts concomitantly with the fragmentation of actin filaments. These results indicate that the reorganization of actin filaments plays a crucial role in the induction of avoidance response of chloroplasts.