Cytosolic WPRa4 and Plastoskeletal PMI4 Proteins Mediate Touch Response in a Model Organism Arabidopsis
Plastoskeletal PMI4 Protein is a Key Regulator of ThigmomorphogenesisTo elucidate the early signaling components involved in thigmomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana, we combined microscopy and proximity-labeling (PL)-based quantitative biotinylproteomics to characterize the touch-responsive putative cytoskeleton-interacting protein WPRa4 (TREPH1). Our findings revealed that WPRa4 localizes near plastids and interacts with cytosolic Plastid Movement-Impaired (PMI) proteins and a plastidic translocon component, suggesting a cytoskeleton-plastid network in mechanosensing. Bioinformatic analysis of PL and cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) data identified PMI4 as a key mediator, with pmi4 mutants lacking touch-induced bolting delay, rosette size reduction, and Ca<sup>2+</sup> oscillations. Transcriptomics further showed that PMI4 regulates touch-responsive and jasmonic acid (JA)-associated genes, such as LOX2. We propose a molecular model where interconnected Cytoskeleton-Plastoskeleton Continuum (CPC) proteins act as early mechanosensors, integrating the touch responses of plant aerial organs with calcium signaling and transcriptional reprogramming in Arabidopsis.
Authors
- Shichang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3126-6445)
- Yuxing An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3170-2809)
- Zhu Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5934-1617)
- Kai Wang
- Yage Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1580-8200)
- Zhaobing Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8931-5508)
- Ke Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7442-1017)
- Weichuan Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5510-6916)
- Shuaijian Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4747-9090)
- Ning Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2650-363X)
- Nan Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4237-4513)
- Fuyun Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7087-7460)
- Yinglin Lu
- Jia Ren
Institutions
- Ningbo University (CN)
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Shenzhen University (CN)
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
- Guangdong Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Molecular & Cellular Proteomics
- Published
- 2025-06-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcpro.2025.101015
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Plant Reproductive Biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.81
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Innovation and Technology Commission
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- Guangdong Science and Technology Department
- Guangdong Academy of Sciences