The phloem as a conduit for inter-organ communication

The plant vascular system plays a pivotal role in the delivery of nutrients to distantly located organs. Recent discoveries have provided new insight into a novel role for plasmodesmata and the phloem in terms of the transport and delivery of information macromolecules (i.e, proteins and ribonucleoprotein complexes), Non-cell/organ-autonomous control over gene expression may function both in defense signaling and developmental programming in plants.