The role of plant Rab GTPases in cytokinesis

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Cell division is fundamental to life, but how does it happen? Considering that cell division is common to all living cells, it is perhaps surprising to learn that animal and plant cells divide quite differently. In animals the cell is constricted by an internal ring of protein and when the cell membranes meet in the centre and two daughter cells pinch off. But in plant cells, which are surrounded by a rigid cell wall and are under great internal pressure, a new cell wall is laid down within a specialised internal compartment, the cell plate, that grows rapidly across the centre of the cell. The cell plate forms a disc that partitions the cell and when it fuses with the cell membrane, 2 separate daughter cells are produced. How does all this happen? Work on this project aims to identify some of the molecules that are involved in orchestrating these events and to explain how they work. It seems that despite the differences in mechanics of cell division in plants and animals, some of the same molecules may be involved. If so, is this evidence of an ancient shared ancestral mechanism, or a case of evolution arriving independently at similar solutions? This project involves the use of transgenic plants to visualise the behaviour of these molecules in living plant cells and to perturb their activities to learn about their importance in cell division. It is an example of GMOs helping us to understand and appreciate fundamental processes in living organisms.