In eukaryotic cells, the endomembrane system compartments, including the endoplasmic reticulum, the vacuole and several other types of membrane-enclosed vesicles, are indispensable organelles and together exert essential cellular functions. In plant cells, the endomembranes interact extensively with the actin cytoskeleton, rather than the microtubules in mammalian cells, proposing significant questions of how the plant-specific endomembrane-actin interactions are established and regulated. My research identified the first ER-actin anchor protein in plant cells. Moreover, the research presented in this dissertation discovered that the abundance of certain cellular nutrients stimulates the metabolic signaling and subsequently triggers re-organization of the actin cytoskeleton and actin-associated endomembranes. This revealed signaling transduction from metabolites and raw materials to manufacturing endomembrane compartments is arguably the first identified regulatory mechanism of such kind in all eukaryotes. Furthermore, additional data and considerations are expected to contribute further mechanistic understandings of the plant-specific endomembrane-actin interactions in a broad context of organelle morphogenesis, cellular functions, and plant growth.
Read
