Plant lipids: Key players of plasma membrane organization and function

Abstract

The plasma membrane (PM) is the biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside. The PM is constituted of a huge diversity of proteins and lipids. In this review, we will update the diversity of molecular species of lipids found in plant PM. We will further discuss how lipids govern global properties of the plant PM, explaining that plant lipids are unevenly distributed and are able to organize PM in domains. From that observation, it emerges a complex picture showing a spatial and multiscale segregation of PM components. Finally, we will discuss how lipids are key players in the function of PM in plants, with a particular focus on plant-microbe interaction, transport and hormone signaling, abiotic stress responses, plasmodesmata function. The last chapter is dedicated to the methods that the plant membrane biology community needs to develop to get a comprehensive understanding of membrane organization in plants.

Keywords: Biophysics; Detergent; Interdigitation; Interleaflet registration; Liposome; Microdomain; Model membrane; Nanodomain; Phospholipids; Pinning; Plant; Plasma membrane; Plasmodesmata; Raft; Signaling; Sphingolipids; Sterols.