Students: Mary Ahern, Molecular Environmental Biology and Lauren Kivlen, Microbial Biology

Faculty Mentor: Pat Zambryski

How Do Plant Cells Communicate With Each Other?

Plant cells are surrounded by cell walls so that individual cells do not physically touch. To allow communication between cells, plants have evolved channels, called plasmodesmata (PD), which span the space between cells. Experiment in this project will use techniques, like fluorescence microscopy, to learn about the structure and function of PD through the investigation of mutants with increased or decreased PD-mediated cell-to-cell transport.