Role of Plasmodesmata During Plant-Pathogen Interactions.
Dubey N, Kumar S, Jeon J
Plant Signaling
Every tomato plant, rose bush, or tree in your yard is quietly waging microscopic battles at its cell walls — and cracking the code on how diseases spread through these channels could soon yield crops and garden plants that fend off infection without pesticides.
Plants have tiny tunnels connecting neighboring cells that let them share resources and send emergency distress signals. Disease-causing viruses, bacteria, and fungi have all figured out how to break into these tunnels and use them as highways to spread through a plant. But plants aren't helpless — they can plug these tunnels with a natural gluey substance to slow the invaders down, and scientists are now mapping exactly how this microscopic tug-of-war plays out.
Key Findings
Viral movement proteins physically remodel plasmodesmata architecture and reorganize the cytoskeleton to smuggle viral genomes from cell to cell.
Bacterial and fungal effector molecules specifically target plasmodesmata to suppress defense signaling and make colonization easier.
Plants close plasmodesmata as an active immune response by depositing callose at the channel's neck regions, restricting pathogen movement.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Tiny channels called plasmodesmata connect plant cells and act as both communication lines and invasion routes during disease. This review synthesizes how viruses, bacteria, and fungi have each evolved distinct tricks to hijack these channels, and how plants fight back by sealing them shut.
Abstract Preview
Plasmodesmata (PD) facilitate the continuity of plasma membrane and cytoplasm between plant cells. They are crucial for intercellular communication and signaling. Plant pathogens have developed a d...
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