Mechanical signal transduction and growth control: role of osmoregulation and cell wall extensibility

这项研究将分析植物如何感知和适应机械环境。植物不断经历机械的挑战，如风，大雨或密集的土壤。许多植物通过发展更粗，更短的茎和调整其根系的结构来应对这些挑战，以增强稳定性和强度。在作物中，这种反应在决定产量方面起着重要作用。为了改善植物在不利机械条件下的生长，必须了解植物如何感知机械挑战以及它们如何将这些信息转化为适当的发育反应。该项目将分析植物膜蛋白的活性是如何协调的，以调节植物细胞和器官的机械性能，以应对机械挑战。了解这些过程应该是工程更有弹性和强大的农作物的实际价值。此外，将开发工具，使研究人员能够确定植物中的哪些细胞在不同的生长条件下经历机械应力。最后，本项目将为博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生提供现代分子生物学和显微镜技术的培训机会。它还包括大量学生对原始假设的有效实践调查，同时向高中生介绍分子生物学研究和技术。细胞对机械应力的感知是植物生长控制的关键因素。与膨压相关的机械力被利用来驱动细胞扩张，而由环境施加的机械提示通常导致细胞伸长的减少。主要研究者的实验室已经确定受体样激酶FERONIA既是机械Ca2+信号传导的关键调节因子，也是细胞扩增和生长对环境机械挑战的反应的控制元件。一个主要的研究目标是确定FERONIA依赖性信号传导的靶点，并了解这些信号传导成分如何影响细胞扩增。为此，将开发基于成像的工具来量化快速的细胞粘附调节，确定细胞壁粘弹性的变化，并表征活组织中机械信号模式的分布和大小。该研究旨在深入了解机械信号转导的分子机制，确定提高植物机械强度的策略，并提供在植物发育过程中原位监测机械应力的方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research will analyze how plants sense and adjust to their mechanical environment. Plants constantly experience mechanical challenges such as wind, heavy rain or dense soils. Many plants respond to these challenges by developing thicker, shorter stems and by tuning the architecture of their root systems for enhanced stability and strength. In crop plants, such responses play an important role in determining yield. To improve plant growth under adverse mechanical conditions, it is essential to understand how plants perceive mechanical challenges and how they translate this information into appropriate developmental responses. This project will analyze how the activity of plant membrane proteins is coordinated to modulate the mechanical properties of plant cells and organs in response to mechanical challenges. Understanding such processes should be of practical value in engineering more resilient and robust agricultural crops. Furthermore, tools will be developed that will enable researchers to identify which cells in a plant experience mechanical stresses under different growth conditions. Finally, this project will provide training opportunities in modern molecular biology and microscopy techniques for a postdoctoral researcher, graduate and undergraduate students. It also includes effective hands-on investigation of original hypotheses by large numbers of students while introducing high school students to molecular biology research and techniques. Cellular perception of mechanical stress is a key element of growth control in plants. Mechanical forces associated with turgor pressure are harnessed to drive cellular expansion while mechanical cues imposed by the environment typically cause a reduction in cell elongation. The principal investigator's laboratory has identified the receptor-like kinase FERONIA as both a key regulator of mechanical Ca2+ signaling and a control element of cell expansion and growth responses to environmental mechanical challenges. A major research goal is to identify targets of FERONIA-dependent signaling and to understand how these signaling components impact cell expansion. To this end imaging-based tools will be developed to quantify rapid cellular osmoregulation, determine changes in viscoelastic properties of cell walls, and characterize the distribution and magnitude of mechanical signaling patterns in living tissues. This research aims to provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of mechanical signal transduction, identify strategies to enhance plant mechanical strength and provide the means to monitor mechanical stress in situ during plant development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.