Lessons from optical tweezers: quantifying organelle interactions, dynamics and modelling subcellular events

Optical tweezers enable users to physically trap organelles and move them laterally within the plant cell. Recent advances have highlighted physical interactions between functionally related organelle pairs, such as ER-Golgi and peroxisome-chloroplast, and have shown how organelle positioning affects plant growth. Quantification of these processes has provided insight into the force components which ultimately drive organelle movement and positioning in plant cells. Application of optical tweezers has therefore revolutionised our understanding of plant organelle dynamics.