Eukaryotic cells contain a highly dynamic set of membrane compartments that are responsible for packaging, sorting, secreting, and recycling proteins and other molecules. Trafficking between organelles within the secretory pathway occurs as vesicles derived from a donor compartment fuse with specific acceptor membranes, resulting in the directional transfer of cargo molecules.
Plant cells contain many membrane-bound organelles, each of which harbors a different set of lipids and proteins and plays distinct intracellular and intercellular roles. Membrane trafficking pathways connect these organelles to each other, which is essential for maintaining cellular functions and responding to various environmental stimuli, including microbial challenges. Recent studies have highlighted the fundamental roles of plant membrane trafficking in many plant–microbe interactions, which include pathogenic and mutualistic interactions. In both types of interactions, plant membrane trafficking is highly modulated either by the plant itself or by the interacting microbes.
In this review, we outline the molecular machineries of plant membrane trafficking and their roles in plant–microbe interactions. The roles of membrane trafficking have recently attracted much attention, and several reviews have nicely summarized the specific interactions between plant membrane trafficking and pathogenic microbes