Shaping of Endoplasmic Reticulum Structure in Plants

The core of the endomembrane system is the endoplasmic reticulum, an essential pleiotropic organelle. With its network of interconnected tubules and flat cisterns, the ER represents the organelle with the largest membrane surface area. It can be viewed as the gatekeeper of secretory pathways that control multiple checkpoints in protein biosynthesis. Morphologically, the ER is able to reorganize, expand, and contract its highly dynamic polygonal tubular network in space and time.

Powered by our professional scientists and their years of field experience, Lifeasible is able to shape the plant endoplasmic reticulum. With our cutting-edge platforms, we can achieve shaping by organelle structures, related gene regulation, and so on.

Shaping of Endoplasmic Reticulum by Plasmodesmata

• The plant endoplasmic reticulum can be considered as a continuous organelle throughout the organism, as it passes through intercellular nanopores in a modified form known as bridging tubules, called plasmodesmata (PD).
• PD is able to penetrate hard cell walls with its amazing dynamic permeability. In addition, the PD-locator protein is inserted into the ER membrane through its single transmembrane region and contacts the plasma membrane through its C2 domain through interactions with anionic phospholipids.
• Lifeasible provides studies related to PD localization proteins to shape the plant endoplasmic reticulum, such as multiple C2 domains and transmembrane region protein (MCTP) family, which shows defects in ER-PM tethering as it mutates.
• We also provide research strategies related to ER-lumen-contracting proteins, such as RTNS, which stabilizes the desmotubule's narrow lumen. Indeed, overexpression of RtnB13 leads to constriction of ER tubules.

Fig.1 Association between the ER and other organelles in a plant cell. (Stefano G, et al., 2017)

Shaping of Endoplasmic Reticulum by Cytoskeleton

• A distinctive feature of the plant ER network is its movement, which mainly refers to protein flow in the ER membrane coupled with ER network remodeling.
• Unlike the chemical depletion of microtubules (MTs), which only affects a subset of ER structures, chemical depletion of the actin cytoskeleton leads to an overall reduction in ER remodeling, suggesting that both cytoskeletal components contribute to ER remodeling, but that actin plays a major role.
• We provide solutions from the perspective of functional genes, such as RHD3 is related to MT function, ARK1 promotes MT catastrophe and locates at the plus end of MT, etc.

Fig.2 ER and cytoskeleton interactions.

• We also focus on actin SYP73, a mutant which results in reduced ER motility, but it induces reorganization of the ER network to cover the actin cytoskeleton when overexpression in plants.

Lifeasible offers the shaping services involved in the plant endoplasmic reticulum for your research convenience. Our goal is to help our clients achieve meaningful results through powerful and consistent approaches. If you are interested in our services or have any questions, please feel free to contact us or make an online inquiry.