Investigating transcriptional regulation of transfer cell development in arabidopsis thaliana

Transfer cells (TCs) play important roles in facilitating enhanced rates of nutrient transport at key apoplasmic/symplasmic junctions along the nutrient acquisition and transport pathways in plants. Consequently, development of TCs at these key junctions can influence plant development and hence plant performance, which in many species of agricultural importance represents crop yield. TCs achieve this capacity for enhanced nutrient transport by developing characteristic wall ingrowths which serve as a scaffold to increase plasma membrane surface area thus increasing the cell’s surface area-to-volume ratio to achieve increased flux of nutrients across the plasma membrane. Despite the importance of TCs to nutrient transport and thus plant development, however, little is known of the genetic regulation of TC development and in particular the genetic networks presumably responsible for construction of their defining wall ingrowth network. Discovering key genetic regulators of TC development holds the potential for improving crop yield by targeting manipulation of TC development.