Engineering Macromolecular Trafficking Into the Citrus Vasculature.

The plant vasculature is a central organ for long-distance transport of nutrients and signaling molecules that coordinate vegetative and reproductive processes, and adaptation response mechanisms to biotic and abiotic stress. In angiosperms, the sieve elements are devoid of nuclei, thus depending on the companion cells for the synthesis of RNA and proteins, which constitute some of the systemic signals that coordinate these processes. Massive analysis approaches have identified proteins and RNAs that could function as long-range signals in the phloem translocation stream.