title: Arabidopsis touch-induced morphogenesis is jasmonate mediated and protects against pests.
abstract: Plants cannot change location to escape stressful environments. Therefore, plants evolved to respond and acclimate to diverse stimuli, including the seemingly innocuous touch stimulus [1-4]. Although some species, such as Venus flytrap, have fast touch responses, most plants display more gradual touch-induced morphological alterations, called thigmomorphogenesis [2, 3, 5, 6]. Thigmomorphogenesis may be adaptive; trees subjected to winds develop less elongated and thicker trunks and thus are less likely damaged by powerful wind gusts [7]. Despite the widespread relevance of thigmomorphogenesis, the regulation that underlies plant mechanostimulus-induced morphological responses remains largely unknown. Furthermore, whether thigmomorphogenesis confers additional advantage is not fully understood. Although aspects of thigmomorphogenesis resemble ethylene effects [8], and touch can induce ethylene synthesis [9, 10], Arabidopsis ethylene response mutants show touch-induced thigmomorphogenesis [11]; thus, ethylene response is nonessential for thigmomorphogenesis. Here we show that jasmonate (JA) phytohormone both is required for and promotes the salient characteristics of thigmomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis, including a touch-induced delay in flowering and rosette diameter reduction. Furthermore, we find that repetitive mechanostimulation enhances Arabidopsis pest resistance in a JA-dependent manner. These results highlight an important role for JA in mediating mechanostimulus-induced plant developmental responses and resultant cross-protection against biotic stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.
authors.forename: E Wassim
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Chehab
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: Se
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braam
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020171:Botrytis / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D035264:Flowers; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D056626:Inflorescence; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D054883:Oxylipins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D010453:Peptide Synthases
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases; D010088:Oxidoreductases; D054883:Oxylipins; C112279:COI1 protein, Arabidopsis; C011006:jasmonic acid; C416525:OPR3 protein, Arabidopsis; C412831:AT2G46370 protein, Arabidopsis; D010453:Peptide Synthases