Host: Dominique Bergmann
Cell polarization is a fundamental feature of almost all cellular organisms. Stem cell asymmetric division in the stomatal lineage requires a polarized plant-specific, non-membrane protein BASL (BREAKING OF ASYMMETRY IN THE STOMATAL LINEAGE). Our recent work established a positive feedback loop between BASL and the YODA MAPK pathway, which constitute a novel polarity complex at the cell cortex of stomatal meristemoids. But how this polarity complex is delivered and regulated remains a major obscure question. I will discuss the functions of a novel YODA interacting protein that was previously reported to participate in PIN polar trafficking is now found to contribute a negative regulation on the BASL-YODA polarity module. Interestingly, this negative regulation seemed to associate with the microtubule cytoskeleton in the stomatal lineage cells.