Project description
Visualising molecular traffic between plant cells
Plant cells communicate and coordinate through tiny channels called plasmodesmata that connect neighbouring cells and allow molecules, including proteins, hormones, and genetic material, to pass directly between them. However, it remains poorly understood how these channels are regulated and how their activity varies across cell types and in response to stress. Existing methods are limited by measuring average transport across channels and do not consider their heterogeneity. The ERC-funded PLANTOSCOPE project addresses this by developing a super-resolution microscopy strategy capable of tracking individual molecules that pass through single channels in living plants. By mapping transport activity with nanometre precision, researchers expect to reveal how plasmodesmata regulate intercellular communication, with broad implications for plant biology and crop resilience.
Objective
Plants coordinate growth and environmental responses through nanoscale channels called plasmodesmata (PD), which allow proteins, RNA, hormones, and metabolites to pass directly between cells. Current PD transport assays average fluxes across the hundreds of channels that connect a cell to its neighbors, obscuring their heterogeneity and regulation. As a result, the real-time activity of individual PD has never been directly observed.
PLANTOSCOPE will establish Transport Localization Microscopy (TLM), a super-resolution imaging strategy that converts transient single-molecule passages through PD into quantitative 3D transport maps with ~10 nanometer and ~10 millisecond precision in living plants.
TLM combines 3D single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) with probes engineered to yield resolvable passage times. 3D SMLM will be achieved through point spread function (PSF) engineering, and probes will include genetically encoded fluorescent proteins, labeled DNA/RNA strands and small dextrans, and ultrashort fluorescent carbon nanotubes. Analysis will extract per-PD passage times and coordinates in Arabidopsis thaliana roots, enabling real-time readouts from thousands of channels in situ. These passage-time distributions will provide unprecedented insights into confined transport mechanisms within PD.
Using TLM, we will quantify how genetic and hormonal regulators reshape single-PD activity and passage statistics, compare connectivity across cell types and tissues, and track shifts under biotic and abiotic stress to reveal early signatures before visible symptoms. The project is hosted jointly at CNRS/Univ. Bordeaux by teams specializing in single-molecule microscopy and PD biology.
By delivering the first functional single-molecule assay of intercellular transport in living plants, PLANTOSCOPE will resolve PD heterogeneity and regulation in vivo and clarify how PD dynamics modulate intercellular connectivity under pathogen and climate-related stress.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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91120 Palaiseau
France
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