In
our study, we precisely characterized the composition of quinoa chromosomes by exposing only 1 ms of dwell time to avoid the radiation damage. Here we have shown for the first time the advantages of utilizing atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the morphological characterization (at the atomic and nanoscale level) and STXM for the compositional characterization (at the nanoscale level) of chromosomes. The morphology and the biochemical properties inside a single quinoa chromosome were determined by utilizing nanoscale imaging tools such as STXM, AFM, SEM, and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Methods Root tip preparation Chromosomes were isolated from the meristematic tissue of quinoa root tips. Seeds of Chenopodium quinoa were germinated on moist filter papers in petri dishes at room temperature in
XAV-939 molecular weight the dark over 48 h. For cytogenetic Sepantronium price analysis, primary root tips were pretreated with 2 mM 8-hydroxyquinoline for 4 h at room temperature, followed by incubation in ice-cold water overnight, fixed in methanol-glacial acetic acid (3:1 ratio), and stored at -4°C for further use. Cell suspension About 2-mm meristematic tips from each root were removed followed by dissection into the smallest possible sections. The root tip sections were macerated in a 200-μL enzyme reaction mixture for 4 h at 37°C. After the incubation time, the solution was filtered through a 50-μm gauze twice.
To this filtered solution, 2 ml of 75 mM KCl solution was added. This suspension was centrifuged for 70 min at 20°C at 760 rpm. The supernatant was discarded and the precipitate was re-suspended in 3 ml of the 3:1 fixative (methanol: acetic acid) and again centrifuged for 7 min at 760 rpm/75 g at 20°C. The above process was repeated five times. After discarding the supernatant from the final wash, the resulting pellet was re-suspended in 200 μL of the 3:1 fixative. AFM imaging In an attempt to prepare a full set of chromosomes, the samples were prepared not from the cell much suspension but using the maceration technique reported by Neethirajan et al. [14]. Briefly, the pretreated quinoa root tips were incubated in an enzyme solution of 2% cellulase, 2% pectolyase, and 1.5% macerozyme for 90 min at 37°C, followed by squashing on the glass slides by tapping with the tip of forceps in 30% acetic acid. The squashed specimens were further cleaned using 1X SSC to remove the cellular debris, before being imaged using AFM. The samples were first observed with an inverted phase contrast optical microscope (Nikon XMU-MP-1 research buy Eclipse Ti, Nikon Instruments, Tokyo, Japan) and photographed to determine the location of the chromosomes to be studied by AFM. The glass slides were marked underneath as a possible region of interest for AFM imaging.