Regulation of short-distance transport of RNA and protein.

The intercellular trafficking of proteins and RNAs has emerged as a novel mechanism of cell-cell communication in plant development. Plasmodesmata (PD), intercellular cytoplasmic channels, have a central role in cell-cell trafficking of regulatory proteins and RNAs. Recent studies have demonstrated that plants use either a selective or a non-selective PD trafficking pathway for regulatory proteins. Moreover, plants have developed strategies to regulate both selective and non-selective movement. Recent work has focused especially on integrating the recent understanding of the function and mechanisms of intercellular macromolecule movement through PD.