IQD protein mediated cell polarity establishment during stomatal development

A fundamental question in developmental biology is to understand the underlying mechanisms of cell fate determination. Establishment of cell polarity prior an asymmetric cell division (ACD) is crucial for the unequal distribution of cell-fate determinants in order to generate daughter cells with distinct fates. Stomatal development is a powerful model system to study ACD and cell fate determination in plants. In stomatal lineage, the plant-specific intrinsic protein BASL controls asymmetry. BASL first appears in the nucleus and then together with a protein named POLAR polarizes to the cortical side of the cell before division. Although several intrinsic regulators of stomatal ACD are identified, the mechanisms of polarity establishment are poorly elucidated. Previous work in the host laboratory has identified a microtubule-associated protein, IQD32 as a putative interactor of both BASL and POLAR, suggesting a cytoskeleton-mediated polarization of the BASL-POLAR complex. Here, this project aims to understand if polarity in stomatal lineage depends on cytoskeleton and to discover novel components of the putative cytoskeleton-related polarity machinery. Together, this research will lead to better understanding of the plant-specific polarity mechanisms driving ACD.