scholarly journals The Plasma Membrane—An Integrating Compartment for Mechano-Signaling

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Ackermann ◽  
Thomas Stanislas

Plants are able to sense their mechanical environment. This mechanical signal is used by the plant to determine its phenotypic features. This is true also at a smaller scale. Morphogenesis, both at the cell and tissue level, involves mechanical signals that influence specific patterns of gene expression and trigger signaling pathways. How a mechanical stress is perceived and how this signal is transduced into the cell remains a challenging question in the plant community. Among the structural components of plant cells, the plasma membrane has received very little attention. Yet, its position at the interface between the cell wall and the interior of the cell makes it a key factor at the nexus between biochemical and mechanical cues. So far, most of the key players that are described to perceive and maintain mechanical cell status and to respond to a mechanical stress are localized at or close to the plasma membrane. In this review, we will focus on the importance of the plasma membrane in mechano-sensing and try to illustrate how the composition of this dynamic compartment is involved in the regulatory processes of a cell to respond to mechanical stress.

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 27-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Boal

Despite a variety of shapes and sizes, the generic mechanical structure of cells is remarkably similar from one cell type to the next. All cells are bounded by a plasma membrane, a fluid sheet that controls the passage of materials into and out of the cell. Plant cells and bacteria reinforce this membrane with a cell wall, permitting the cell to operate at an elevated osmotic pressure. Simple cells, such as the bacterium shown in Figure 1a, possess a fairly homogeneous interior containing the cell's genetic blueprint and protein workhorses, but no mechanical elements. In contrast, as can be seen in Figure 1b, plant and animal cells contain internal compartments and a filamentous cytoskeleton—a network of biological ropes, cables, and poles that helps maintain the cell's shape and organize its contents.Four principal types of filaments are found in the cytoskeleton: spectrin, actin, microtubules, and a family of intermediate filaments. Not all filaments are present in all cells. The chemical composition of the filaments shows only limited variation from one cell to another, even in organisms as diverse as humans and yeasts. Membranes have a more variable composition, consisting of a bi-layer of dual-chain lipid molecules in which are embedded various proteins and frequently a moderate concentration of cholesterol. The similarity of the cell's mechanical elements in chemical composition and physical characteristics encourages us to search for universal strategies that have developed in nature for the engineering specifications of the cell. In this article, we concentrate on the cytoskeleton and its filaments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (40) ◽  
pp. E9288-E9297 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Holmes ◽  
Ching-Yan Chloé Yeung ◽  
Richa Garva ◽  
Egor Zindy ◽  
Susan H. Taylor ◽  
...  

The formation of uniaxial fibrous tissues with defined viscoelastic properties implies the existence of an orchestrated mechanical interaction between the cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix. This study addresses the nature of this interaction. The hypothesis is that this mechanical interplay underpins the mechanical development of the tissue. In embryonic tendon tissue, an early event in the development of a mechanically robust tissue is the interaction of the pointed tips of extracellular collagen fibrils with the fibroblast plasma membrane to form stable interface structures (fibripositors). Here, we used a fibroblast-generated tissue that is structurally and mechanically matched to embryonic tendon to demonstrate homeostasis of cell-derived and external strain-derived tension over repeated cycles of strain and relaxation. A cell-derived oscillatory tension component is evident in this matrix construct. This oscillatory tension involves synchronization of individual cell forces across the construct and is induced in each strain cycle by transient relaxation and transient tensioning of the tissue. The cell-derived tension along with the oscillatory component is absent in the presence of blebbistatin, which disrupts actinomyosin force generation of the cell. The time period of this oscillation (60–90 s) is well-defined in each tissue sample and matches a primary viscoelastic relaxation time. We hypothesize that this mechanical oscillation of fibroblasts with plasma membrane anchored collagen fibrils is a key factor in mechanical sensing and feedback regulation in the formation of tensile tissues.


1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Kang Zhu ◽  
Jun Shi ◽  
Utpal Singh ◽  
Sarah E. Wyatt ◽  
Ray A. Bressan ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 682-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuya Ishikawa ◽  
Kensaku Maejima ◽  
Ken Komatsu ◽  
Osamu Netsu ◽  
Takuya Keima ◽  
...  

Fig mosaic virus (FMV), a member of the newly formed genus Emaravirus, is a segmented negative-strand RNA virus. Each of the six genomic FMV segments contains a single ORF: that of RNA4 encodes the protein p4. FMV-p4 is presumed to be the movement protein (MP) of the virus; however, direct experimental evidence for this is lacking. We assessed the intercellular distribution of FMV-p4 in plant cells by confocal laser scanning microscopy and we found that FMV-p4 was localized to plasmodesmata and to the plasma membrane accompanied by tubule-like structures. A series of experiments designed to examine the movement functions revealed that FMV-p4 has the capacity to complement viral cell-to-cell movement, prompt GFP diffusion between cells, and spread by itself to neighbouring cells. Altogether, our findings demonstrated that FMV-p4 shares several properties with other viral MPs and plays an important role in cell-to-cell movement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 947
Author(s):  
Mitsuki Tsuruta ◽  
Yui Sugitani ◽  
Naoki Sugimoto ◽  
Daisuke Miyoshi

Methylated cytosine within CpG dinucleotides is a key factor for epigenetic gene regulation. It has been revealed that methylated cytosine decreases DNA backbone flexibility and increases the thermal stability of DNA. Although the molecular environment is an important factor for the structure, thermodynamics, and function of biomolecules, there are few reports on the effects of methylated cytosine under a cell-mimicking molecular environment. Here, we systematically investigated the effects of methylated cytosine on the thermodynamics of DNA duplexes under molecular crowding conditions, which is a critical difference between the molecular environment in cells and test tubes. Thermodynamic parameters quantitatively demonstrated that the methylation effect and molecular crowding effect on DNA duplexes are independent and additive, in which the degree of the stabilization is the sum of the methylation effect and molecular crowding effect. Furthermore, the effects of methylation and molecular crowding correlate with the hydration states of DNA duplexes. The stabilization effect of methylation was due to the favorable enthalpic contribution, suggesting that direct interactions of the methyl group with adjacent bases and adjacent methyl groups play a role in determining the flexibility and thermodynamics of DNA duplexes. These results are useful to predict the properties of DNA duplexes with methylation in cell-mimicking conditions.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1587
Author(s):  
Sara Behnami ◽  
Dario Bonetta

Cells interpret mechanical signals and adjust their physiology or development appropriately. In plants, the interface with the outside world is the cell wall, a structure that forms a continuum with the plasma membrane and the cytoskeleton. Mechanical stress from cell wall damage or deformation is interpreted to elicit compensatory responses, hormone signalling, or immune responses. Our understanding of how this is achieved is still evolving; however, we can refer to examples from animals and yeast where more of the details have been worked out. Here, we provide an update on this changing story with a focus on candidate mechanosensitive channels and plasma membrane-localized receptors.


1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (5) ◽  
pp. 1829-1835 ◽  
Author(s):  
P G Woodman ◽  
J M Edwardson

A cell-free assay has been developed for the delivery of influenza virus neuraminidase to the plasma membrane. Two types of postnuclear supernatant, which acted as donor and acceptor of the enzyme, were prepared from baby hamster kidney cells. Donor preparations were obtained from cells infected with influenza virus and containing neuraminidase en route to the plasma membrane. Acceptor preparations were obtained from cells containing, bound to their plasma membranes, Semliki Forest virus with envelope glycoproteins bearing [3H]N-acetylneuraminic acid. Fusion between vesicles from these two preparations permits access of the enzyme to its substrate, which results in the release of free [3H]N-acetylneuraminic acid. This release was detected through the transfer of radioactivity from a trichloroacetic acid-insoluble to a trichloroacetic acid-soluble fraction. An ATP-dependent component of release was found, which appears to be a consequence of vesicle fusion. This component was enhanced when the donor was prepared from cells in which the enzyme had been concentrated in a compartment between the Golgi complex and the plasma membrane, which indicates that a specific exocytic fusion event has been reconstituted. The extent of fusion is greatly reduced by pre-treatment of donor and acceptor preparations with trypsin, which points to the involvement of proteins in the fusion reaction.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
MS Islam ◽  
T Akhter ◽  
M Matsumoto

Components from the outer envelopes of the egg that influence the flagellar beating and acrosome reaction of spermatozoa are regulated by ion flux across the plasma membrane. Asterosap, a sperm-activating peptide from the starfish egg jelly layer, causes a transient increase in intracellular cyclic GMP (cGMP) through the activation of the asterosap receptor, a guanylyl cyclase (GC), and causes an increase in intracellular Ca2+. Here we describe the pathway of asterosap-induced Ca2+ elevation using different Ca2+ channel antagonists. Fluo-4 AM, a cell permeable Ca2+ sensitive dye was used to determine the channel caused by the asterosap-induced Ca2+ elevation in spermatozoa. Different L-type Ca2+ channel antagonists, a non specific Ca2+ channel antagonist (nickel chloride), and a store-operated Ca2+ channel (SOC) antagonist do not show any significant response on asterosap-induced Ca2+ elevation, whereas KB-R7943, a selective inhibitor against Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) inhibited effectively. We also analyzed the flagellar movement of spermatozoa in artificial seawater (ASW) containing the asterosap at 100 nM ml?1. We found that spermatozoa swam vigorously with more symmetrical flagellar movement in asterosap than in ASW and KB-R7943 significantly inhibited the flagellar movement.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v19i1.17358 Progress. Agric. 19(1): 79 - 88, 2008 


1991 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-317
Author(s):  
RICHARD J. CYR

Microtubules (Mts) are found in four distinct arrays appearing sequentially in a cell-cycle-dependent fashion within the cells of higher plants. Additionally, the cortical Mts of non-cycling cells are spatially altered in a variety of differentiated states. Information regarding the molecular details underlying these Mt-reorientation events in plant cells is scarce. Moreover, it is unclear how cytoskeletal behavior integrates with the myriad of other cellular activities that are altered concomitantly in both differentiating and cycling cells. Data are presented herein to indicate that calcium, in the form of a Ca2+/calmodulin complex, can alter the behavior of Mts in lysed carrot protoplasts. Mechanistically, we show that Ca2+/calmodulin most likely interacts with Mts via associations with microtubule associated pro- teins (MAPS). These results are discussed with reference to how Ca2+ may alter the dynamic behavior of Mts during growth and development.


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