In:
eLife, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, Vol. 3 ( 2014-04-08)
Abstract:
Cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane, and when a cell divides to create two new cells, it must grow a new membrane to keep the two new cells apart. Animal cells and plant cells tackle this challenge in different ways: in animal cells the new membrane grows inwards from the surface of the cell, whereas the new membrane grows outwards from the centre of the cell in plant cells. The materials needed to make the plasma membrane are delivered in packages called vesicles: most of these materials arrive from a structure within the cell called the trans-Golgi network, but some materials are recycled from the existing plasma membrane. In plants the formation of the new cell membrane is orchestrated by scaffold-like structure that forms in the plant cell called the ‘phragmoplast’. It is widely thought that this structure guides the vesicles bringing materials from the trans-Golgi network, but the details of this process are not fully understood. Now, Richter et al. have discovered four proteins, called BIG1 to BIG4, that control the formation of the new cell membrane in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a species that is routinely studied by plant biologists. These four proteins belong to a larger family of proteins that control the trafficking of vesicles within a cell. Richter et al show that a plant cell can lose up to three of these four proteins and still divide, as the plant can still grow and develop as normal. Thus, BIG1 to BIG4 appear to perform essentially the same role in the plant. Richter et al. also show that, when a plant cell is not dividing, these proteins are involved in controlling the delivery of new materials to surface membrane, and not the recycling of material. However, when a cell is dividing, these proteins switch to regulate both processes, but direct all the material to a new destination—the newly forming membrane, instead of the established surface membrane. Richter et al. suggest that this switch is important to stop any recycling to the plasma membrane that might move material away from the new membrane. The next challenge will be to identify the molecular signals and mechanisms that enable the proteins BIG1 to BIG4 to re-route the recycling of membrane material during cell division.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2050-084X
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.001
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.002
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.003
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.004
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.005
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.006
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.007
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.008
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.009
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.010
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.011
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.012
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.013
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.014
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.015
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.016
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.017
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.02131.018
Language:
English
Publisher:
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Publication Date:
2014
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2687154-3
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