Switching secretory pathway direction for organelle acquisition in plants

Eukaryotic cells acquired novel organelles during evolution through mechanisms that remain largely obscure. The existence of the unique oil body compartment is a synapomorphy of liverworts that represents lineage-specific acquisition of this organelle during evolution, although its origin, biogenesis, and physiological function are yet unknown. We found that two Syntaxin 1 paralogs in the liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha, are distinctly targeted to forming cell plates and the oil body, suggesting these structures share some developmental similarity. Oil body formation is under the regulation of an ERF/AP2-type transcription factor and loss of the oil body increased M. polymorpha herbivory. These findings highlight a common strategy for the acquisition of organelles with distinct functions in plants, via periodical switching in secretion direction depending on cellular phase transition.