A new kymogram-based method reveals unexpected effects of marker protein expression and spatial anisotropy of cytoskeletal dynamics in plant cell cortex.

Our new method for evaluating plant cytoskeletal dynamics has several advantages over existing techniques. It is intuitive, rapid compared to fully manual approaches, based on the free ImageJ software (including macros we provide here for download), and allows measurement of multiple parameters. Our approach was already used to document unexpected differences in actin mobility in transgenic A. thaliana expressing Lifeact fusion proteins with different fluorophores, highlighting the need for cautious interpretation of experimental results, as well as to reveal hitherto uncharacterized anisotropy of cytoskeletal mobility in elongated plant cells.