On the track of transfer cell formation by specialized plant-parasitic nematodes

• Published in: Frontiers in plant science Vol. 5; p. 160
• Main Authors: Rodiuc, Natalia, Vieira, Paulo, Banora, Mohamed Youssef, de Almeida Engler, Janice
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers 05.05.2014; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Environmental Sciences; Life Sciences; Plant Science; galls; cyst nematodes; syncytia; root-knot nematodes; transfer cells; wall ingrowths; nematode feeding sites; galls syncytia
• ISSN: 1664-462X; 1664-462X
• DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00160

Transfer cells are ubiquitous plant cells that play an important role in plant development as well as in responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. They are highly specialized and differentiated cells playing a central role in the acquisition, distribution and exchange of nutrients. Their unique structural traits are characterized by augmented ingrowths of invaginated secondary wall material, unsheathed by an amplified area of plasma membrane enriched in a suite of solute transporters. Similar morphological features can be perceived in vascular root feeding cells induced by sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes, such as root-knot and cyst nematodes, in a wide range of plant hosts. Despite their close phylogenetic relationship, these obligatory biotrophic plant pathogens engage different approaches when reprogramming root cells into giant cells or syncytia, respectively. Both nematode feeding-cells types will serve as the main source of nutrients until the end of the nematode life cycle. In both cases, these nematodes are able to remarkably maneuver and reprogram plant host cells. In this review we will discuss the structure, function and formation of these specialized multinucleate cells that act as nutrient transfer cells accumulating and synthesizing components needed for survival and successful offspring of plant-parasitic nematodes. Plant cells with transfer-like functions are also a renowned subject of interest involving still poorly understood molecular and cellular transport processes.