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Macromolecules Trafficking in the Phloem and Interorgan Communication

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Long-Distance Systemic Signaling and Communication in Plants

Part of the book series: Signaling and Communication in Plants ((SIGCOMM,volume 19))

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Abstract

The phloem is a major component of the vascular tissue responsible for the delivery of photoassimilates and nutrients from source (photosynthetically active) tissues to sink organs. The presence of active plasmodesmata between the companion cells–sieve element complex and adjacent cells creates a symplastic continuum connecting almost all cells, even at distant tissues. That phloem sap contains a wide repertoire of proteins has long been established. It is, however, only been recently established that thousands of RNA molecules are also present within the sieve tube. While a large number of these macromolecules were identified through the use of modern analytical tools combined with bioinformatics methods, a biological role explaining their presence in the sieve tube is assigned to only a few. Insights provided by long-distance movement of viral particles conjoined with the characterization of several phloem sap proteins and RNA molecules form the foundation of the hypothesis that macromolecules play a role in the plant’s long-distance communication signaling system. A future challenge is to dissect the mechanism by which plants control trafficking of these macromolecules from their site of synthesis through the sieve tube and all the way to their target cells.

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Acknowledgments

Research in the authors’ laboratory was supported by the United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF 2007052) and by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF 380/06).

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  1. The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Otto Warburg Minerva Centre for Agricultural Biotechnology, The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Ziv Spiegelman, Guy Golan & Shmuel Wolf

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  1. Ziv Spiegelman
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  2. Guy Golan
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Correspondence to Shmuel Wolf .

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  1. University of Bonn, IZMB, Kirschallee 1, Bonn, 53115, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    František Baluška

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Spiegelman, Z., Golan, G., Wolf, S. (2013). Macromolecules Trafficking in the Phloem and Interorgan Communication. In: Baluška, F. (eds) Long-Distance Systemic Signaling and Communication in Plants. Signaling and Communication in Plants, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36470-9_14

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