The influence of geldanamycin (GDA) – an inhibitor of Hsp90 chaperones – on growth and morphogenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings was studied. It was shown that treatment of seeds Col with the inhibitor resulted in a dose-dependent increase in variability of seedling’s rates of growth and phenotypes. GDA treatment of genetic polymorphic seeds of natural A. thaliana populations and UV-B irradiated seeds Col resulted in a significant rise in the amount of seedlings with morphological alterations and the amount of non-germinated seeds. The obtained data testify that Hsp90 may restrict stochastic processes, thereby participating in the plant development canalization, conceal genetic variations and maintain cell vitality.
Keywords: heat shock proteins 90 kDa, geldanamycin, phenotypic variability, Arabidopsis thaliana
