How does a developing plant shoot know how, where, and when to grow? Dividing cells need to pass messages from one another to coordinate growth. In plants, important messages are packaged into RNA, which are sent from cell to cell. By studying the mustard-like plant Arabidopsis thaliana, 黑料吃瓜资源 (CSHL) Professor David Jackson and his team found that RNA messages need a special protein to escort them where they need to go. Without this escort, cells cannot coordinate and the plant fails to develop properly.
Unlike animal cells, plant cells are surrounded by a rigid cell wall. Messages can cross this wall through tiny holes called plasmodesmata. Munenori Kitagawa, a postdoc in the Jackson lab who led this study, says, 鈥淧lasmodesmata are nanochannels embedded in the cell wall. They mediate various signals鈥� transport from cell to cell, including protein, RNA, hormones, ions, and nutrients.鈥�
Plants use RNA as a way to relay messages from cell to cell. In this video of an Arabidopsis thaliana plant鈥攁 relative of mustard鈥擱NA messages (stained orange) jump around inside a cell. When messages find tiny gated channels called plasmodesmata (stained blue) that allow them to pass, they move to another cell. Video by Kitagawa/Jackson lab
Kitagawa wondered how the plasmodesmata鈥檚 gates regulate messaging from one cell to the next. The team discovered that RNA signaling relied on a protein called AtRRP44a. Lowering the amount of AtRRP44a slowed the movement of RNA messages; lacking the right messages, the plants failed to develop properly. A protein similar to this escort protein is present in other plants, yeast, and animals. The researchers were able to swap out part of the Arabidopsis thaliana signaling system with parts from corn and restore normal development, showing that this signaling system is similar in many kinds of plants. Jackson says, 鈥淧lants are very sophisticated. We think of them just sitting in their environment, not moving, but really they鈥檙e processing a lot of information. The different parts of the plant are talking to each other, sharing whether they have some pathogen attack or if they need some nutrients.鈥�
In a related , Jackson and collaborators at New York University found that signals transported through these gates can increase the number of cell layers in corn roots, making the plants potentially more resilient to environmental changes.
鈥淭his paper represents an important step towards understanding how information is exchanged between cells to control development and other processes,鈥� said John McDowell, a program officer in the 鈥檚 Directorate for Biological Sciences. 鈥淏y revealing a new component of cell-to-cell communication, this research opens the door for further investigation that could allow us to harness this process.鈥�
Written by: Luis Sandoval, Communications Specialist | [email protected] | 516-367-6826
Funding
National Science Foundation, Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (System & Synthetic Agro-biotech Center), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea, 黑料吃瓜资源鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Program
Citation
Kitagawa, M., et al., 鈥淎n RNA exosome subunit mediates cell-to-cell trafficking of a homeobox mRNA via plasmodesmata鈥�, Science, January 13, 2022. DOI:
