ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Membrane Traffic and Transport
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1605468
Novel insights into RabA2b intracellular localization suggest a role in plasmodesmatal function
Provisionally accepted
- Migal - Galilee Research Institute, Qiryat Shemona, Israel
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Plasmodesmata (PD) are microchannels that bridge together neighboring plant cells by connecting their plasma membranes to each other. Thus, the PD establish the symplast, a cytoplasmic continuum that allows free transport of water and other small molecules between cells. Also, PD communicate with the cytoplasm via intercellular trafficking. Rab small GTPases are key regulators of vesicle trafficking, though surprisingly, their role in PD targeting and trafficking is still obscure. Here we show, for the first time, that the RabA member, RabA2b, associates with the PD. Furthermore, its overexpression in Arabidopsis facilitates symplastic mediated transport. Additionally, during osmotic stress, the presence of RabA2b was observed along the Hechtian Strands (HS) as well as at HS-cell wall docking sites. Our findings provide new insights into the potential involvement of RabA2b in PD permeability regulation and mediation of the symplast integrity, necessary for water maintenance during water stresses.
Keywords: Plasmodesmata, Rab Small GTPases, RabA2b, Plasma membrane trafficking, Microchannel transport, Hechtian strands, Water stress
Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ambastha, Matityahu and Leshem. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yehoram Leshem, yoril@migal.org.il
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