Nuclear movement and positioning in plant cells

Plant cells connected to adjacent cells with rigid cell wall cannot change their position, so that appropriate nuclear positioning according to nuclear movement is indispensable for cellular development involving unequal cell division. Sessile plants are severely affected by fluctuating environmental conditions, so that movement of organelles including nucleus is fundamental to accomplish physiological functions. The mechanisms of nuclear movement and their purposes studied recently with Arabidopsis thaliana, the model plants for genetics and molecular biology, and the nuclear behavior in fern gametophytes, an apical growing protonemal cell and a two-dimensional prothallus of Adiantum capillus-veneris, the model plants for cell biology and photobiology are described in this review.