New Views on the Plant Cytoskeleton

Dear Colleague,

A great deal of time has passed since the early seminal studies of the 1960s and 1970s that showed the ubiquity of cytoskeletal elements in eukaryotes by documenting the presence of actin filaments and microtubules in the fine structure of plant cells. Since these early studies, a substantial body of work has elaborated on the role of plant cytoskeletal elements in the building of the cell wall and the organization of the cytoplasm by directing intracellular traffic, providing anchors for organelles, and orchestrating global processes such as cell growth and division, culminating in tissue patterning and organ shape, size, and form. Microtubules and actin filaments are not stable, and they have intrinsic dynamicity ultimately coupled to their reorganization capacities to fulfil their intracellular tasks. Microtubules are influenced by the cell exterior, as they become remodeled in response to biotic and abiotic cues from their surroundings. Several proteins interacting with cytoskeletal elements and mediating their inducible rearrangements have been identified, and such proteins nucleate, cap, severe, and bundle individual filaments, or participate in transport processes along cytoskeletal tracks. The present Special Issue entitled “New Views on the Plant Cytoskeleton” will endorse reports of new molecules and molecular mechanisms underlying the conditional and developmental remodeling of plant microtubules and actin filaments. The integration of cytoskeletal dynamics and organization with extracellular inputs and the hormonal regulation of cell division, growth, and differentiation will be most welcome for submission. Importantly, technical approaches reporting novel probes and microscopy methods to address the dynamics and organization of cytoskeletal elements will be of interest. Modelling software tools capable of describing and predicting cytoskeletal dynamics and organization properties in the single-cell or multicellular context are strongly encouraged. In the biological context we expect submissions addressing the roles of actin and microtubules in tip and diffuse cell growth, in tissue differentiation and cell morphogenesis, in cell division and cytokinesis, in the short-term responses of plant cells to abiotic stresses, or in the ever-evolving tug-of-war between biotic invaders and the plant host.

The Special Issue “New Views on the Plant Cytoskeleton” aims to become a repository for contributions dedicated to the functions and roles of these spectacular filaments of the plant subcellular architecture.

Dr. George Komis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• actin filaments
• cell division
• cell growth and differentiation
• kinesin
• microtubules
• molecular motors
• myosin