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Updated: Sep 20, 2025
09:23
Lateral Root Inducible System in Arabidopsis and Maize
Published on: January 14, 2016
14.0K
Control of root-to-shoot long-distance flow by a key ROS-regulating factor in Arabidopsis.
Tianling Jin1, Huiyan Wu1, Zhuying Deng1
1Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain Industry, School of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei Province, China.
Plant, Cell & Environment
|June 11, 2022
Summary
Radical-induced cell death 1 (RCD1) regulates plant root-to-shoot communication by controlling small RNA movement. This protein modulates symplastic and apoplastic pathways, impacting long-distance signaling in plants.
Area of Science:
- Plant molecular biology
- Plant physiology
- Cell-to-cell communication
Background:
- Inter-tissue communication is crucial for multicellular organism function.
- Regulation of long-distance signaling pathways, particularly root-to-shoot communication, remains poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- Identify key regulators of root-to-shoot mobile silencing in Arabidopsis.
- Elucidate the mechanism by which radical-induced cell death 1 (RCD1) controls inter-tissue communication.
Main Methods:
- Genetic screens for compromised small RNA-mediated gene silencing movement.
- Analysis of rcd1-knockout mutants in Arabidopsis.
- Investigation of plasmodesmata structure and function.
- Assessment of tracheary pit morphology and water transport.
Main Results:
- Radical-induced cell death 1 (RCD1) identified as a critical regulator of root-shoot communication.
- RCD1 modulates symplastic and apoplastic movement by affecting sterol levels in lipid rafts.
- Mutations in RCD1 lead to altered plasmodesmata frequency and structure, and increased tracheary pit area, impacting transport.
Conclusions:
- RCD1 plays a novel role in coordinating symplastic and apoplastic transport for long-distance signaling.
- Superoxide production influences plasmodesmata and tracheary pit structures, affecting intercellular communication.
- This study reveals a new mechanism for modulating root-to-shoot signaling in plants.
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