Immobilisation of barley aleurone layers enables parallelisation of assays and analysis of transient gene expression in single cells

The barley aleurone layer is an established model system for studying phytohormone signalling, enzyme secretion and programmed cell death during seed germination. Most analyses performed on the aleurone layer are end-point assays based on cell extracts, meaning each sample is only analysed at a single time point.

By immobilising barley aleurone layer tissue on polydimethylsiloxane pillars in the lid of a multiwell plate, continuous monitoring of living tissue is enabled using multiple non-destructive assays in parallel. Cell viability and menadione reducing capacity were monitored in the same aleurone layer samples over time, in the presence or absence of plant hormones and other effectors.

The system is also amenable to transient gene expression by particle bombardment, with simultaneous monitoring of cell death. In conclusion, the easy to handle and efficient experimental setup developed here enables continuous monitoring of tissue samples, parallelisation of assays and single cell analysis, with potential for time course studies using any plant tissue that can be immobilised, for example leaves or epidermal peels.