Feedback from the wall

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2003.09.004Get rights and content

Abstract

The ability of cells to perceive changes in the composition and mechanical properties of their cell wall is crucial for plants to achieve coordinated growth and development. Evidence is accumulating to show that the plant cell wall, like its yeast counterpart, is capable of triggering multiple signalling pathways. The components of the cell wall that are responsible for initiating these signal responses remain unknown; however, recent technological advances in cell wall analysis may now facilitate the identification of these components and accelerate the characterisation of changes that occur in cell wall mutants.

Introduction

The cell walls of higher plants provide mechanical strength, define cell shape and thus overall plant morphology, and protect against pathogen attack. The complex polysaccharide structure of wall must therefore combine strength with the plasticity that is required for cell expansion and plant growth. In addition to controlling the mechanical aspects of plant development, the cell wall must also posses inherent signalling properties. These properties are essential not only for the role of the cell wall in defence but also for the co-ordination of wall synthesis and expansion between adjacent cells, and thus the development of entire plant organs. Pien et al. [1] have already shown that the role of the cell wall in plant morphogenesis stretches far beyond supplying the physical constraints that control the direction of cell expansion. Local increases in the expression of expansin, a cell wall protein that facilitates growth by promoting wall loosening (see [2]), are sufficient to trigger the formation of an entire leaf, indicating that local changes in cell wall extensibility within the meristem set in motion the entire cascade of leaf development. Several recent studies have provided evidence that changes in wall composition can also be perceived by the cell, activate feedback-signalling networks, and thus provide a sensing mechanism through which growth responses can be co-ordinated or altered appropriately.

Section snippets

A role for the cell wall in signalling?

The recent characterisation of several cell wall mutants has revealed a causal link between cell wall synthesis and structure and the jasmonate (JA) and ethylene signalling pathways. These mutants, eli1 (ectopic lignification1) and cev1 (constitutive expression of VEGETATIVE STORAGE PROTEINS1 [VSP1]), were originally isolated from screens for ectopic lignin production and defence responses 3., 4.. Recently, further characterisation has revealed that the mutations responsible for these

Miniaturised analytical techniques for studying cell walls

Little is known about the cellular machinery that underlies cell wall synthesis and deposition. Mutants have been very instructive in elucidating the molecular machinery underlying these processes, but the analysis of cell wall changes remains a major bottleneck. Recently, major advances have been achieved in the miniaturisation of techniques for the analysis of polysaccharides and in the adaptation of micro-spectroscopic techniques to interpret complex mixtures of polymers found in the cell

Conclusions

The discovery that the plant cell wall appears to constitute an integral component of multiple signalling pathways suggests that the cell wall properties of plants, like those of yeast, are constantly sensed to co-ordinate growth and defence responses. Virtually nothing is known about how changes in cell wall properties are perceived and how these signals are transduced. Feedback signalling may well involve stress sensors akin to WSC1 and MID2, which have been identified in yeast. Vital

Note added in proof

Recently, further characterisation of the pmr4 mutant has suggested that callose, which is normally deposited at wound sites following pathogen invasion, may also be involved in feedback signalling from the wall. Surprisingly, Nishimura et al. [47••] showed that pmr4 mutants display increased resistance to pathogen attack, despite their lack of the callose synthase gene that is responsible for the production of callose in response to biotic and abiotic stress. The analysis of double mutants and

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the annual period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • of special interest

  • ••

    of outstanding interest

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Marie-Theres Hauser and M Pauly for contributing information before publication, Grégory Mouille for interesting discussions concerning this publication and Stéphane Mesnage for critical reading of the manuscript. The work in the authors’ laboratory related to this review was funded in part by Action concertée Incitative 2000 (grant 47), the EEC framework 5 projects GEMINI and EUROPECTIN, and GENOPLANTE grants (1999025 and 2001035).

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