The phloem, a specialized vascular tissue in higher plants, consists of columns of living cells, including sieve elements and companion cells connected by plasmodesmata, allowing molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins/amino acids, and hormones to travel locally or over long distances. The phloem also harbors a variety of RNAs including mRNAs and small RNAs. During the past decades, researchers have put great effort into highlighting the importance of mobile RNAs, particularly mRNAs and microRNAs (miRNAs), in plant growth and development. However, only a limited number of mRNAs or miRNAs have been identified to be mobile and involved in systemic signaling, such as cell-to-cell or long-distance communication. The rapid development and application of novel sequencing and molecular technologies has allowed for genome-wide identification of mobile RNAs through grafting experiments. However, the integrity of mobile RNAs and their functional significance remain poorly understood. Further investigation of systemic RNA signaling can lay a critical foundation to guide crop breeding towards meeting present and future challenges.

This Research Topic will focus on studies that apply the latest bioinformatic and molecular methods to identify mobile coding and non-coding RNA loci responsible for systemic regulation of plant development, or interactions with and responses to pathogens and environmental stresses. Within this Research Topic, we aim to recruit Original Research, Reviews, Mini-reviews, Hypotheses and Theory, Perspective and Opinion articles related but not limited to:

Detection of RNA’s that function as trafficking signals in plants.
Conservation of mobile RNAs and their functions across plant taxa.
Elucidating the functional role that mobile trafficking RNAs play in interspecific interactions, such as those between plant and pathogen or plant and symbiont.
Characterizing the role of mobile RNAs in plant responses to the environment and abiotic stresses.
The application of RNA signaling to crop improvement.

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Frontiers in Plant Science

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