A nuclear-targeted cameleon demonstrates intranuclear Ca2+ spiking in Medicago truncatula root hairs in response to rhizobial nodulation factors

Lipochitooligosaccharide nodulation factors (NFs) secreted by endosymbiotic nitrogen-fixing rhizobia trigger Ca2+ spiking in the cytoplasmic perinuclear region of host legume root hairs. To determine whether NFs also elicit Ca2+ responses within the plant cell nucleus we have made use of a nucleoplasmin-tagged cameleon (NupYC2.1). Confocal microscopy using this nuclear-specific calcium reporter has revealed sustained and regular Ca2+ spiking within the nuclear compartment of Medicago truncatula root hairs treated with Sinorhizobium meliloti NFs. Since the activation of Ca2+ oscillations is blocked in M. truncatula nfp, dmi1, and dmi2 mutants, and unaltered in a dmi3 background, it is likely that intranuclear spiking lies on the established NF-dependent signal transduction pathway, leading to cytoplasmic calcium spiking. A semiautomated mathematical procedure has been developed to identify and analyze nuclear Ca2+ spiking profiles, and has revealed high cell-to-cell variability in terms of both periodicity and spike duration. Time-lapse imaging of the cameleon Förster resonance energy transfer-based ratio has allowed us to visualize the nuclear spiking variability in situ and to demonstrate the absence of spiking synchrony between adjacent growing root hairs. Finally, spatio-temporal analysis of the asymmetric nuclear spike suggests that the initial rapid increase in Ca2+ concentration occurs principally in the vicinity of the nuclear envelope. The discovery that rhizobial NF perception leads to the activation of cell-autonomous Ca2+ oscillations on both sides of the nuclear envelope raises major questions about the respective roles of the cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments in transducing this key endosymbiotic signal.