Yariv reagent treatment induces programmed cell death in Arabidopsis cell cultures and implicates arabinogalactan protein involvement

Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are a family of highly glycosylated, hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins implicated in various aspects of plant growth and development. (β-D-glucosyl)3 and (β-D-galactosyl)3 Yariv phenylglycosides, commonly known as Yariv reagents, specifically bind AGPs in a non-covalent manner. Here (β-D-galactosyl)3 Yariv reagent was added to Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cultures and determined to induce programmed cell death (PCD) by three criteria: (i) DNA fragmentation as detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) of DNA 3 prime -OH groups; (ii) inter-nucleosomal DNA fragmentation as visualized by genomic Southern blotting; and (iii) structural changes characteristic of PCD including cytoplasmic shrinkage and condensation, chromatin condensation and nuclear membrane blebbing. These findings implicate AGP involvement in PCD in plants, presumably by perturbation of AGPs located at the plasma membrane-cell wall interface.