Mechanomics: New approaches to identify mechanobiological factors in plant development

Summary

Beyond genetics and biochemistry, plants rely on mechanical forces as instructive signals to control their development, growth and defences. Yet, how plants sense and translate mechanical forces into biological responses remain elusive. This thesis introduces a systematic approach, based on innovative methodologies, to unravel the cellular and molecular responses of plants to mechanical stimuli. By combining bespoke microfluidic engineering and omics technologies we uncovered new mechanobiological response pathways, in both embryos and suspension cultured cells of the model plant Arabidopsis.

We discovered a completely novel ultrarapid mechanosensory pathway that is based on mechanically-gated phosphorylations, occurring already within 5 seconds after stimulation. Our work has brought to light a potential primary mechanosensitive protein, along with an array of downstream targets. These findings constitute a valuable resource for advancing investigations into the mechanistic basis of how plants gain their sense of touch.