title: The architecture of polarized cell growth: the unique status of elongating plant cells.
abstract: Polarity is an inherent feature of almost all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In most eukaryotic cells, growth polarity is due to the assembly of actin-based growing domains at particular locations on the cell periphery. A contrasting scenario is that growth polarity results from the establishment of non-growing domains, which are actively maintained at opposite end-poles of the cell. This latter mode of growth is common in rod-shaped bacteria and, surprisingly, also in the majority of plant cells, which elongate along the apical-basal axes of plant organs. The available data indicate that the non-growing end-pole domains of plant cells are sites of intense endocytosis and recycling. These actin-enriched end-poles serve also as signaling platforms, allowing bidirectional exchange of diverse signals along the supracellular domains of longitudinal cell files. It is proposed that these actively remodeled end-poles of elongating plant cells remotely resemble neuronal synapses.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Botany, Department of Plant Cell Biology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany. baluska@uni-bonn.de
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baluska
authors.forename: Przemysław
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wojtaszek
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Volkmann
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barlow
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D004705:Endocytosis; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009218:Myosins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D018517:Plant Roots; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D009218:Myosins