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Here, we demonstrate that Arabidopsis thaliana Formin 2 (AtFH2) localizes to plasmodesmata (PD) through its transmembrane domain and is required for normal intercellular trafficking. Although loss-of-function atfh2 mutants have no overt developmental defect, PD’s permeability and sensitivity to virus infection are increased in atfh2 plants. Interestingly, AtFH2 functions in a partially redundant manner with its closest homolog AtFH1, which also contains a PD localization signal. Strikingly, targeting of Class I formins to PD was also confirmed in rice, suggesting that the involvement of Class I formins in regulating actin dynamics at PD may be evolutionarily conserved in plants. In vitro biochemical analysis showed that AtFH2 fails to nucleate actin assembly but caps and stabilizes actin filaments. We also demonstrate that the interaction between AtFH2 and actin filaments is crucial for its function in vivo. These data allow us to propose that AtFH2 regulates PD's permeability by anchoring actin filaments to PD., eLife digest Plant cells communicate with each other via narrow channels embedded across adjacent cell walls. These channels, called plasmodesmata, allow molecules to pass between cells, thereby enabling plants to grow normally and develop tissues and organs. But plasmodesmata also serve as passageways that viruses can exploit to infect more and more cells. Given these pros and cons, plants must regulate how permeable their plasmodesmata are so they can transport necessary materials cell-to-cell while still defending against the spread of infection. Each cell within plants, animals, and fungi, contains a protein skeleton that helps to stabilize it. A threadlike fiber called actin filament, one of the key components that makes up the cell’s skeleton, presumably extends out to the plasmodesmata, which lie across the cell’s external wall. Previous research has shown that actin helps regulate cell-to-cell traffic through the plasmodesmata and that drug treatments involving actin disturb normal traffic. But techniques to visualize actin at the plasmodesmata are lacking, and both how plants control their plasmodesmata and actin’s involvement remain unclear. Diao et al. used a confocal microscope, fluorescent tags, and staining procedures in experiments that analyzed how plasmodesmata and actin interact within a small flowering plant called thale cress. These experiments showed that a protein known to regulate actin, called Formin 2, positions itself at the plasmodesmata where it caps off actin threads and anchors them to the channels. Diao et al. also generated thale cress that cannot produce Formin 2. These mutant plants had more permeable plasmodesmata and were more susceptible to a virus. By stably tethering actin to the plasmodesmata, Formin 2 plays a key part in regulating the permeability of these cell-to-cell channels, with unstable actin threads resulting in more penetrable plasmodesmata. These findings provide further evidence that plants rely on actin to regulate plasmodesmata, and they establish that Formin 2 is involved. Further research will clarify how actin and Formin 2 work together to adjust the structure of plasmodesmata channels.

A number of phloem-limited viruses induce the development of tumours (enations) in the veins of host plants, but the relevance of tumour induction to the life cycle of those viruses is unclear. In this study, we performed molecular and structural analyses of tumours induced by rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV, genus Fijivirus) infection in maize plants. The transcript level of the maize cdc2 gene, which regulates the cell cycle, was highly elevated in tumour tissues. Two-dimensional electrophoresis identified 25 cellular proteins with altered accumulation in the tumour tissues. These proteins are involved in various metabolic pathways, including photosynthesis, redox, energy pathways and amino acid synthesis. Histological analysis indicated that the tumours predominantly originated from hyperplastic growth of phloem, but those neoplastic tissues have irregular structures and cell arrangements. Immunodetection assays and electron microscopy observations indicated that in the shoots, RBSDV is confined to phloem and tumour regions and that virus multiplication actively occurs in the tumour tissue, as indicated by the high accumulation of non-structural proteins and formation of viroplasms in the tumour cells. Thus, the induction of tumours by RBSDV infection provides a larger environment that is favourable for virus propagation in the host plant.