Essential processes in biology such as cell and nuclear division,
development, intracellular transport and physiological response, rely on
the perception of environmental and intracellular signals and their
transduction to subcellular targets. The mechanisms by which these
signals are received by cells and transduced towards the proper targets
by cytoskeletal components constitute one of the most important and
rapidly developing areas in modern plant biology. In addition,
fundamentally important responses of plants to biotic and abiotic
factors also involve signalling to and through the cytoskeleton, which
helps explain the current interest of biotechnology in this field of
fundamental research. Manipulation of cytoskeletal components, the
microtubules and microfilaments, had, until recently, not been a
priority issue for plant biotechnology. However, given the fundamental
role of the cytoskeleton during plant growth and development, the
potential for biotechnological applications is immense. The NATO
Advanced Research Workshop, "The Plant Cytoskeleton: Genomic and
Bioinformatic Tools for Biotechnology and Agriculture" was held in
Yalta, Ukraine, from September 19 to 23, 2006 - which continued the
tradition of the first two International Symposia "Plant Cytoskeleton:
Molecular Keys for Biotechnology" (Yalta, Ukraine, 1998) and "The Plant
Cytoskeleton: functional diversity and biotechnological implications"
(Kiev, Ukraine, 2002).