Cytological indication of the involvement of calcium and calcium-related proteins in the early responses of Bryonia dioica to mechanical stimulus.

The distribution of membrane-bound calcium, activated calmodulin, and callose synthesis was visualized in Bryonia dioica internodes before and after mechanical stimulus, using fluorescent probes, respectively, chlorotetracycline, fluphenazine, and aniline blue. Bright chlorotetracycline fluorescence remains localized in the plasma membrane of control cells, 30 s after stimulation calcium left the plasmalemma. A delocalization of activated calmodulin was observed after wounding and deposition of callose, which could not be detected before, appeared in the same times in most cells. The callose formation and the decrease in membrane-associated calcium suggest a rapid influx of calcium in the cytosol and an intervention of this ion in the cascade of the early events underlying Bryonia dioica thigmomorphogenesis.