NATURE OUTLOOK - Biologists studying extracellular RNA (exRNA) — and the tiny spherical structures known as exosomes that shuttle this genetic information from cell to cell — typically focus on mammals. As long ago as the 1960s, however, scientists found that plant cells also generate vesicles that carry cargo out of the cell membrane. But for decades, these botanical observations were largely forgotten.
Plant biologist Hailing Jin at the University of California, Riverside, is trying to revive the field to work out how plants send cellular messages. She has found evidence that plants do this, in part, to thwart their fungal enemies. She is now designing fungicides that are based on exRNA.