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New Insights in Plant Cell Biology

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 942

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Dynamics and Mechanics of Epithelia Group, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Development of Rennes, University of Rennes, CNRS, UMR 6290, 35043 Rennes, France
Interests: embryo development; cell cycle; gene regulation; cancer; stem cells; gonads; genetic diseases
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Transplant Immunology, The Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Interests: macrophages; actin cytoskeleton; RhoA pathway; chronic rejection; transplantation; germ cells; stem cells; Xenopus laevis; development
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant cells have many features that are different to or absent in animal cells. The most obvious distinctions are the ability for autonomous energy production by photosynthesis in chloroplasts and, usually, the presence of the cell wall. Plants have much larger vacuoles (generally a unique central vacuole) playing a different role to the small vacuoles of animal cells. Their microtubule cytoskeleton is organized by acentriolar centrosomes or amorphous pericentriolar material. Actin, present in plant cells, does not form elaborated microfilaments necessary in animal cells for their movements and shaping. The cells of higher plants are interconnected by plasmodesmata–membrane-lined connections that join plant cells to their neighbors. Thus, we can consider the whole plant to be a huge single entity. All these peculiarities come down to a specific metabolism and the molecular machinery unique to plants. We most probably only know the tip of the iceberg of these differences because very few plants are studied as model organisms.

In this Special Issue, we aim to gather original and review articles dealing with plant-specific features with the hope of widening our knowledge of plant-cell-specific structures, processes, and metabolic and molecular pathways.

Prof. Dr. Jacek Z. Kubiak
Prof. Dr. Malgorzata Kloc
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • chloroplasts
  • cell wall
  • vacuoles
  • microtubule cytoskeleton
  • plant-cell-specific structures

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 10240 KiB  
Article
GmGIF5 Promotes Cell Expansion by Negatively Regulating Cell Wall Modification
by Hongmiao Jin, Shiyu Gao, Yingtao Xia, Meiling Hu, Yueping Zheng, Shenhua Ye, Yihua Zhan, Mengyuan Yan, Hongbo Liu, Yi Gan, Zhifu Zheng and Tian Pan
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(2), 492; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26020492 - 9 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 680
Abstract
Soybean is an important and versatile crop worldwide. Enhancing soybean architecture offers a potential method to increase yield. Plant-specific transcription factors play a crucial, yet often unnoticed, role in regulating plant growth and development. GRF-INTERACTING FACTOR (GIF) genes are plant-specific transcription factors; however, [...] Read more.
Soybean is an important and versatile crop worldwide. Enhancing soybean architecture offers a potential method to increase yield. Plant-specific transcription factors play a crucial, yet often unnoticed, role in regulating plant growth and development. GRF-INTERACTING FACTOR (GIF) genes are plant-specific transcription factors; however, their functions in soybean remain poorly understood. Eight GmGIF members were identified in soybean (Glycine max L.). Phylogenetic analysis divided the eight GmGIF proteins into three groups. In this study, we focused on the role of GmGIF5 owing to its high expression level in the meristem. Subcellular localization and transcriptional activity analysis showed that GmGIF5 was localized to the nucleus and has self-transactivation ability. To elucidate the biological function of GmGIF5, we constructed transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing the gene. Phenotype observations indicated that the overexpression of GmGIF5 contributed to larger leaves, higher plants, wider stems, and larger seeds. The organs of GmGIF5 overexpression lines exhibited larger sizes primarily due to an increase in cell size rather than cell number. RNA sequencing was performed to investigate the underlying mechanism for these effects, showing that differentially expressed genes in overexpression lines were mainly enriched in cell wall modification processes. Our study provides new clues for an understanding of the roles of the GmGIF family in soybean, which can promote the further application of these genes in genetic breeding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights in Plant Cell Biology)
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