How Cells Build Plants: Regulatory Mechanisms for Integrated Functioning of Plant Cells and the Whole Plant Body

This Research Topic aims to show the integration and coordination of plant subcellular structures into the well-orchestrated regulation of physiological and developmental events on the organismic level. Analysis of the key subcellular components, the endomembrane systems and the cytoskeleton, will provide important insights to the integrated plant development. The nucleus-ER-Golgi-endosomes continuum and the contacts between diverse compartments inside the cell all contribute to the integrated functioning of plant cells. Furthermore, the cytoskeleton, a promoter of organelle dynamics and the cooperation between organelles at the subcellular level, plays and important role in the functioning of cells in the context of the whole plant body. Thus, the Research Topic is divided into two subsections. The first subsection will address the functional coordination of plasma membrane and endomembrane compartments. This coordinated functioning is important to complete several important cellular processes, like the secretory pathway and cell wall formation. Several papers will contribute to new regulatory aspects of co-operation of plasma membrane and intracellular vesicles in the trafficking of auxin transport proteins with special emphasis on PINs. Proper auxin transport is crucial for many developmental events from embryogenesis to root development, therefore, this theme will show how well-regulated cellular processes have consequences on whole-body architecture. The second subsection will explore the regulation of cytoskeletal organization and the developmental functions of cytoskeleton associated proteins. This is of particular importance, since, in plant cells, the cytoskeleton acts as important integrator for different cues from the environment and neighboring cells. There are numerous connections between these two subsections. Cytoskeleton-membrane interactions are crucial for building up a new cell wall or modulate defense responses to plant pathogens.

Reviews and Original Research papers are welcomed in the following topics:

a. Membrane interactions:
• Role of syntaxins in the traffic of the PIP family of plasma membrane aquaporins
• The role of membrane lipids in the establishment of contacts between subcellular compartments. Interactions between endomembrane compartments.
• The role of membrane lipids in plant secretory pathways
• The role of endomembranes and/or secretory pathways (with special emphasis on the ER) in plant stress responses
• The role of membrane trafficking in plant immune responses
• Proteins involved in exocytosis in plant cells
• The role of protein phosphatases in the regulation of the organization of plant endomembrane system
• Fate of PIN proteins during oxidative stress
• Intracellular traffic of PINs and the regulation of cell dynamics, root development and gravitropism.

b. Cytoskeleton:
• Membrane-cytoskeleton interactions. This theme is the strongest link between the two subsections.
• The interplay between Arp2/3 complex and auxin in the regulation of plant cell morphogenesis
• The role of MAPs in tissue-dependent cell division patterns
• Sensing of abiotic and biotic stresses by the cytoskeleton and cytoskeleton-membrane interactions
• The role of microtubules for sensing membrane integrity in plant defence
• Plant allelopathic compounds directed against the cytoskeleton
• Unconventional plant kinesins as transcriptional regulators
• Novel functions for plant kinesins
• The role of protein phosphatases in the regulation of plant cytoskeletal organization