Plant cell morphogenesis is critical for different types of cells to fulfill their specialized functions. No mobile plant cells achieve their final morphology through polarized cell growth. The cytoskeleton is a complex network of protein filaments that exists throughout the cytoplasm of eucaryotic cells and plays critical roles in the regulation of many important cellular processes including cell growth and cell shape formation. We investigate how the cytoskeleton is capable of responding to various developmental signals and environmental cues, and modulates plant cell growth. Our recent focus is to reveal specific signals and their signaling pathways leading to the reorganization and dynamics of microtubules and microfilaments for the control of plant cell growth.

Auxin-activated ROP6-RIC1 signaling pathway promotes the ordering of cortical microtubules through regulating the microtubule severing activity of KTN1, the p60 subunit of the microtubule severing protein katanin. (Current Biology. 2013, 23: 290-297)