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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

A Strategy to Validate the Role of Callose-mediated Plasmodesmal Gating in the Tropic Response
Published on: April 17, 2016
Selective trafficking of KNOTTED1 homeodomain protein and its mRNA through plasmodesmata
W J Lucas1, S Bouché-Pillon, D P Jackson
1Section of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
Abstract:
Plasmodesmata are intercellular organelles in plants that establish cytoplasmic continuity between neighboring cells. Microinjection studies showed that plasmodesmata facilitate the cell-to-cell transport of a plant-encoded transcription factor, KNOTTED1 (KN1). KN1 can also mediate the selective plasmodesmal trafficking of kn1 sense RNA. The emerging picture of plant development suggests that cell fate is determined at least in part by supracellular controls responding to cellular position as well as lineage. One of the mechanisms that enables the necessary intercellular communication appears to involve transfer of informational molecules (proteins and RNA) through plasmodesmata.
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