PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sabrina Kaiser
AU  - Ahmed Eisa
AU  - Jürgen Kleine-Vehn
AU  - David Scheuring
TI  - NET4 modulates the compactness of vacuoles in <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em>
AID  - 10.1101/714774
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 714774
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/25/714774.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/25/714774.full
AB  - The dimension of the plants largest organelle – the vacuole, plays a major role in defining cellular elongation rates. The morphology of the vacuole is controlled by the actin cytoskeleton but the mechanistic connection between them remains largely elusive. Recently, the NETWORKED (NET) family of membrane-associated, actin-binding proteins has been identified and represent potential candidates to impact on vacuolar morphology. Here, we show that NET4A localizes to highly constricted regions in the vacuolar membrane and contributes to the compactness of the vacuole. Using genetic interference, we found that deregulation of NET4 abundance impacts on vacuole morphogenesis and overexpression leads to more compact vacuoles. We moreover show that the NET4A-induced changes in vacuolar shape correlates with reduced cellular and organ growth in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our results demonstrate that NET4 modulates the compactness of vacuoles and reveal higher complexity in the regulation of actin-reliant vacuolar morphology.