The hidden exchanges between plant cells

Abstract

Trade and communication are fundamental tenets of our globalised societies, but they are also subject to a multitude of factors that can impact them. Recent geopolitical crises around the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab Strait have, for instance, highlighted how we depend on the movement of goods through maritime trade routes. As these distant bottlenecks can be open for trade or slam shut by blockades, they powerfully shape the growth and robustness of our economies, as well as our local lives. We rarely consider that something very similar happens in plants all the time. With far less media coverage, plant cells constantly adjust transport and communication between them in response to diverse scenarios. Exchange processes are indeed a common feature across biological scales. Plasmodesmata are microscopic ‘straits’ for the direct transfer of nutrients and signals between plant cells. They are carefully regulated and subject to challenges that can interfere with their traffic. These hidden exchanges are fundamental for both plants and us, as they profoundly impact the growth and robustness of the crops and plant species we rely on.