“This slide set represents a revised model to explain how microbes are ejected from root hairs in the rhizophagy cycle. Through the filming of root hairs in several plants we were able to better visualize microbe ejection events. The ‘cyclosis/expansion wave’ model holds: 1) that cyclosis moves microbes to the tip of the hairs where they concentrate; and 2) expulsion of microbes from the hair tips occurs periodically when a wave of expansion of the hair protoplast flows from the base of the hair to the tip of the hair. The expansion wave forces microbe protoplasts through pores that form in the hair tip cell wall. It is unknown what causes periodicity in microbe expulsion events.”
