Kyaw Aung
Iowa State University, IA·Plant Science & Agriculture·Early-career
A plant is made of millions of cells, and those cells must keep exchanging signals to grow and survive, especially under stresses such as those brought by climate change. Neighboring plant cells are joined by tiny membrane-lined channels called plasmodesmata, which let molecules pass directly from one cell to the next.
- Fields
Plant Science & Agriculture
Biology
Biochemistry
- Topics
plasmodesmata
cell-to-cell communication
reactive oxygen species
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2029
What they work on
- Test whether HPCA1, a hydrogen peroxide sensor, functions at plasmodesmata, the channels linking neighboring plant cells, to regulate hydrogen peroxide movement in Arabidopsis thaliana, using genetics and cell biology.
- Determine whether HPCA1 adds phosphate tags to plasma membrane intrinsic proteins, aquaporin channels that move water and hydrogen peroxide, to control their transport activity, using biochemistry and yeast-based analysis.
- Characterize how PDLP5, a protein that regulates plasmodesmata, works with partner proteins that produce, sense and transport reactive oxygen species, building on proximity labeling and AlphaFold-Multimer results with structural biology.
More about the research
This project asks whether these channels also act as hubs for reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are reactive molecules, such as hydrogen peroxide, that cells use as signals in health, disease and stress responses.
Why it matters
Knowing how plant cells share stress signals through plasmodesmata could help in designing crops that cope better with climate change, which matters for protecting human nutrition. Redox regulation (the control of reactive oxygen balance) and cell-to-cell communication are basic to the health of all multicellular organisms. The findings may therefore also inform understanding of health in other organisms, including humans.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mary Tierney
University of Vermont, VT·Plant Science & Agriculture
Compare the proteins that make up and associate with the Retriever recycling complex in Arabidopsis thaliana and the moss Physcomitrium patens, using proximity labeling from the subunits VPS29, VPS26C, and CCDC22.
Federica Brandizzi
Michigan State University, MI·Biology
Determine how IRE1, the most conserved UPR sensor and both a protein kinase and an RNA-cutting enzyme, drives protein phosphorylation changes that support growth and relieve ER stress in Arabidopsis.
DurreShahwar Muhammad
University of Massachusetts, MA·Biology·Early-career
Identify and characterize the proteins acted on by LON2, a peroxisomal protein that refolds and degrades other proteins, including substrates that promote pexophagy (peroxisome destruction) in Arabidopsis.
The school
Iowa State University: 23 labs on PI Pages, $462M a year on research, 327 research doctorates a year.
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