Tag: cell wall

Plant cells are under constant turgor pressure that pushes the plasma membrane tightly against the cell wall. Under severe water loss, cells shrink and membrane retracts without fully detaching from the wall. Narrow bands known as Hechtian strands remain tethered to the cell wall at membrane/wall contact…

The architecture of the plant cell wall is very intricate: strings of cellulose microfibrils provide structure while allowing the cell to expand and grow. This growth is primarily driven by turgor pressure, which applies pressure and allows for expansion in all directions. While the general mechanism…

Huebbers, Caldarescu, et al. examine how the EXO70 and MLO proteins cooperate in targeted deposition of cell wall components in trichomes. By Jan W. Huebbers1 and George A. Caldarescu2 1 Unit of Plant Molecular Cell Biology, Institute for Biology I, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52056…

ATG8 is a well-characterized protein involved in autophagy that binds to the double-membrane enclosed phagophore. In a new preprint, Julian et al. explore their finding that ATG8 binds to the single-membrane enclosed vacuolar membrane (tonoplast). They observed that this binding is enhanced by treatments…

Zhou et al. investigated pollen tube integrity maintenance mechanisms in maize. The Plant Cell (2023) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad324 By Liang-Zi Zhou and Thomas Dresselhaus Background: As sperm cell transporting vehicles, pollen tubes of flowering plants grow through the transmitting tissues…

Su et al. identify two cell wall-loosening agents that synergistically regulate tomato fruit softening. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad291 By Guanqing Su1, Yanna Shi1, 2, 3 1College of Agriculture & Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058, China 2Zhejiang…

Named after the Etruscan goddess of fertility, the receptor-like kinase FERONIA (FER) is involved in more than fertility. A recent paper by Liu, Yeh et al. sheds light on the intricate signaling processes taking place on the cell surface in response to environmental signals regulating growth and development…

Cellulose is an important and useful biopolymer, present in plant cell walls and synthesized at the plasma membrane by protein complexes called cellulose synthase complexes (CSCs) composed of multimers of cellulose synthase (CESA). CESAs are embedded in the membrane and move along the membrane as they…