Plasmodesmata and Intercellular Movement

Dear Colleagues,

Cell-to-cell signaling and intercellular movement of a diverse array of molecules is a pivotal process in the determination of cell fate during plant development and physiological adaptation in response to environmental stimuli. The intercellular movement of proteins and RNAs, in addition to the movement of small signaling molecules, such as phytohormones, have emerged as a novel mechanism of cell-to-cell signaling in plants. As a strategy for efficient intercellular communication and molecule movement, plants have evolved plant-specific symplasmic communication networks via plasmodesmata (PD) and phloem. PD connect neighboring cells and allow movement or trafficking of cellular components. Phloem provides long-distance movement through specialized sieve tube elements that are connected by enlarged or modified PD, called sieve pores. Recent approaches using genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, and omics biology greatly enhanced understanding of PD structure, their structural and regulatory components, non-cell-autonomous mobile protein and RNAs, and the biological significance of intercellular movement of mobile signals. This Special Issue, on the “Plasmodesmata and Intercellular Movement”, offers an open access forum for bringing together investigators with different approaches in studying, not only their biogenesis, composition, structure, and regulation, but also non-cell autonomous function of singaling micromolecules and macromolecules, such as transcription factors and RNAs. We encourage scientists to contribute original research papers and reviews dedicated to the plasmodesmata and intercellular movement of cellular components.

Prof. Dr. Jae-Yean Kim
Guest Editor

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