Dai-Yin Chao

Abstract Plant roots serve as the primary interface between the plant and the soil, encountering numerous challenges ranging from water balance to nutrient uptake. One of the central mechanisms enabling plants to thrive in diverse ecosystems is the building of apoplastic diffusion barriers. These barriers control the flow of solutes into and out of the roots, maintaining water and nutrient homeostasis.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. REFERENCES , , , , , , , , , and (1968). Abscisic acid: A new name for abscisin II (dormin). Science 159: 1493. , , and (2019). Considerations and challenges in studying liquid-liquid phase separation and biomolecular condensates. Cell 176: 419–434. , and (2022). Beating the heat: Phase separation in plant stress granules. Dev. Cell 57: 563–565. , , , , , , , , , , et al. (2013).

Abstract Insects and pathogens release effectors into plant cells to weaken the host defense or immune response. While the imports of some bacterial and fungal effectors into plants have been previously characterized, the mechanisms of how caterpillar effectors enter plant cells remain a mystery.