Extended: Plant cell wall integrity at the crossroads of plant defense, mechanics and making a difference

Plant cell walls surround all plant cells, provide support during growth and development and form the interface with the environment. In this context they frequently also form the first line of defense against biotic and abiotic stress originating in the environment. The walls consist mainly of different types of polysaccharides such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, proteins and dependent on the specific wall type also lignin. We are interested in understanding the mode of action of the cell wall integrity (CWI) maintenance mechanism, which is monitoring the functional integrity of plant cell walls similar to mechanisms in other organisms such as yeast. In case cell wall damage occurs, the mechanism is initiating adaptive changes in composition and structure to maintain integrity. Such damage can arise during exposure to biotic and abiotic stresses as well as growth and development. We have combined functional studies with the use of Brillouin microscopy to investigate the mode of action of the CWI maintenance mechanism. We found that the mechanism modulates Abscisic and Jasmonic acid production as well as cell wall stiffness in Arabidopsis seedling roots. Here I will present our latest findings on this topic.