Plants: RNA notes to self

Date:
January 13, 2022
Source:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Summary:
Plants need an internal communication system to coordinate
their development and growth. Within a plant, cells message each
other with pieces of RNA. A professor discovered a protein that
carries these RNA messages between cells. Tinkering with this
communication system may help crops grow better and adapt faster
to their environment.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
How does a developing plant shoot know how, where, and when to
grow? Dividing cells need to pass messages from one another to coordinate growth. In plants, important messages are packaged into RNA, which are
sent from cell to cell. By studying the mustard-like plant Arabidopsis thaliana, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor David Jackson
and his team found that RNA messages need a special protein to escort
them where they need to go. Without this escort, cells cannot coordinate
and the plant fails to develop properly.


========================================================================== Unlike animal cells, plant cells are surrounded by a rigid cell
wall. Messages can cross this wall through tiny holes called
plasmodesmata. Munenori Kitagawa, a postdoc in the Jackson lab who
led this study, says, "Plasmodesmata are nanochannels embedded in the
cell wall. They mediate various signals' transport from cell to cell,
including protein, RNA, hormones, ions, and nutrients." Kitagawa wondered
how the plasmodesmata's gates regulate messaging from one cell to the
next. The team discovered that RNA signaling relied on a protein called AtRRP44a. Lowering the amount of AtRRP44a slowed the movement of RNA
messages; lacking the right messages, the plants failed to develop
properly. A protein similar to this escort protein is present in other
plants, yeast, and animals. The researchers were able to swap out part
of the Arabidopsis thaliana signaling system with parts from corn and
restore normal development, showing that this signaling system is similar
in many kinds of plants. Jackson says, "Plants are very sophisticated. We
think of them just sitting in their environment, not moving, but really
they're processing a lot of information.

The different parts of the plant are talking to each other, sharing
whether they have some pathogen attack or if they need some nutrients."
In a related study published recently in the journal Science, Jackson
and collaborators at New York University found that signals transported
through these gates can increase the number of cell layers in corn roots, making the plants potentially more resilient to environmental changes.

"This paper represents an important step towards understanding how
information is exchanged between cells to control development and other processes," said John McDowell, a program officer in the U.S. National
Science Foundation's Directorate for Biological Sciences. "By revealing a
new component of cell-to- cell communication, this research opens the door
for further investigation that could allow us to harness this process." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Cold_Spring_Harbor_Laboratory. Original written by Luis Sandoval. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Munenori Kitagawa, Peipei Wu, Rachappa Balkunde, Patrick Cunniff,
David
Jackson. An RNA exosome subunit mediates cell-to-cell trafficking
of a homeobox mRNA via plasmodesmata. Science, 2022 DOI: 10.1126/
science.abm0840 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220113151352.htm
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