Connecting membranes to the actin cytoskeleton

- Membrane structures are linked to the actin cytoskeleton in plants.
- Membrane-actin interactions are essential for various subcellular events in plants.
- Membrane-cytoskeleton adapter proteins have been identified in recent studies.
- Examples of the molecular mechanism of such interactions are discussed here.

In plants, the actin cytoskeleton plays a major role in organelle movement, cargo transport, maintaining cell polarity and controlling the morphogenesis of endomembrane systems. All of these events require a direct connection between membrane structures and the cytoskeleton. Our knowledge in this field has been greatly advanced by a few recent discoveries including the identification of the plant specific NETWORKED family of proteins, which can mediate such linkages. Other proteins that are known to regulate actin nucleation and polymerization are also likely to be involved, but many key questions still remain unanswered. In this paper, we will focus on recent research on the interfaces between the actin cytoskeleton and membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum, the vacuole and autophagosomes.