Pea border cell maturation and release involve complex cell wall structural dynamics

Border cells form at the root tip and are shed during growth, protecting the sensitive root apex from damage as it pushes through the soil. Mravec et al. investigated the cell wall chemistry, carbohydrate distributioion and expression of cell-wall modifying genes to determine the mechanism by which border cells separate from their neighboring cells. Their data indicate that during separation there is a dissolution of a part of the cell wall enriched in homogalacturonan, rhamnogalacturonan I backbone, and arabinan. Separation also might be facilitated by differential wall elongation mediated by extensin and xyloglucan (XyG). Plant Physiol. 10.​1104/​pp.​16.​00097