= Y. L. Ruan
{c}
Y. L. Ruan is the first-listed author of a 2001 study of how a single <cotton> fiber <cell> elongates. The work connected changing permeability of the <plasmodesma> connections at the fiber base with <sucrose> transport, <potassium> transport, <turgor pressure> and the wall-loosening <protein> <expansin>. A <cotton> fiber is an illuminating growth model because a conspicuous length increase occurs within one <cell>, rather than being explained by repeated <cell division>.<The control of single-celled cotton fiber elongation by developmentally reversible gating of plasmodesmata and coordinated expression of sucrose and K+ transporters and expansin by Y. L. Ruan and others>[Abstract, Plant Cell 13 (2001), pp. 47–60; DOI 10.1105/tpc.13.1.47.]{ref}
Using <confocal microscopy>, the researchers followed a fluorescent tracer that could pass through open <plasmodesma> connections but not freely across the <cell membrane>. Tracer entry changed during development and later returned, demonstrating reversible connectivity rather than permanent separation. Measurements of transporter expression and <turgor pressure> helped connect this change with growth. The tracer experiment measures permeability, while the other measurements test the proposed relationship between solute supply, pressure and <cell wall> expansion.<The control of single-celled cotton fiber elongation by developmentally reversible gating of plasmodesmata and coordinated expression of sucrose and K+ transporters and expansin by Y. L. Ruan and others>[Abstract and Figure 1: tracer permeability, transporter expression and developmental timing.]{ref}
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