Sterols in plant biology – Advances in studying membrane dynamics

Plants sense their environment at the cell surface, i.e. the plasma membrane, where extracellular signals are perceived and transduced. Together with the cortical cytoskeleton and the cell wall, membrane lipids can influence these processes by acting on protein dynamics at the plasma membrane. Among these lipids, sterols regulate membrane fluidity and thus, protein functions. However, plant sterols are diverse in structure and particularly difficult to study due to technical limitations. Nevertheless, advances in sterol imaging, sterol-protein interaction studies, and sterol perturbation methods have resulted in a better understanding of their functions in plant development and physiology. Here we summarize the current knowledge and the latest breakthroughs, and discuss future challenges, in the field of plant sterol biology and cell surface organization.