The ‘cell’ was first discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665. What he found in a slice of cork tissue was a mesh of thick secondary cell walls surrounding countless small empty spaces — cells. Cells have proven to be the fundamental unit of life, and their organization is critical to the existence of multicellular organisms. Now, we can visualize the dynamic roles of regulatory molecules patterning the cell walls during plant growth and development. The year 2012 is a monumental year for cell biology, as the classical concept of reprogramming — that a cell fate can be returned to its initial state — was recognized by the Nobel Prize. In this issue, we focused on four important themes in plant cell biology: cell polarity, which breaks symmetry and generates form and patterns; coordination of individual cells to collective organismal behaviors; a cellular perspective on plant interactions with environment and other living organisms; and plastid division machinery and behaviors. Integrated and cross-disciplinary approaches and modern tools will continue to advance the flourishing field of plant cell biology.
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