Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Magali Grison

Magali Grison, first author of Plasma Membrane Receptor Like Kinases relocalise to plasmodesmata in response to osmotic stress

Current position: CNRS Engineer

Education: PhD in Plant Biology, University Of Bordeaux, France

Non-scientific interest: Climbing, sailing, painting, and the history of art

Brief bio: At twenty years old after short studies I worked in a pediatric hospital lab, after few years I realized that it did not meet my expectations, that I wanted more surprise and less routine. I had the opportunity to join the laboratory of Dr Emmanuelle Bayer where I gave my first steps in science being part of a research project focus on plasmodesmata, membranous nanochannels allowing cell-to-cell communication in plants using Arabidopsis as plant model.

I resumed my study and obtained my Master degree with honors and I started at 35 years old a PhD and was the “oldest” PhD student of the lab! Anyway I was completely immersed in my subject and so happy and proud to defend and obtain my PhD with honors in 2018.

Cell-to-cell communication is a prerequisite of multicellularity, a singularity of plants is the symplastic and endomembrane continuums from cell to cell at the organism level created by plasmodesmata. Indeed, hundreds plasmodesmata nanopores perforate the plant cell wall establishing both plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum and cytosolic continuity between cells. Despite these continuity between cells, cellular identities and territories are still maintained through plasmodesmata-mediated selective transport. How such tiny structures regulate so many aspects of plant biology remains difficult to grasp. In this study we highlight the versatile nature of the plasmodesmal molecular signature conferring functional specificity and plasticity to these unique cellular machines.