Specificity in intercellular small RNA mobility (C06)

• Subject Area: Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 232631280

Small RNAs form a new class of mobile instructive signals in development. We have shown that the plasmodesmatal movement of miRNAs within plant stem cell niches is precisely gated at individual cell-cell interfaces via mechanisms that act independently from any governing protein mobility. We now seek to understand how this specificity is generated, and what the underlying molecular mechanisms are. Questions as to how the cell-to-cell mobility of miRNAs is achieved and what the role of plasmodesmata is in gating mobility will be addressed. This will clarify the scope of small RNAs as mobile signals in development and beyond.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1101: Molecular Encoding of Specificity in Plant Processes
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Project Head: Professorin Dr. Marja Timmermans