Cytosolic WPRa4 and Plastoskeletal PMI4 Proteins Mediate Touch Response in a Model Organism Arabidopsis

Kebin Wu (Co-first author), Nan Yang (Co-first author), Jia Ren, Shichang Liu, Kai Wang, Shuaijian Dai, Yinglin Lu, Yuxing An, Fuyun Tian, Zhaobing Gao, Zhu Yang, Yage Zhang, Weichuan Yu, Ning Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Abstract

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 2+ 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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101015
Number of pages22
JournalMolecular and Cellular Proteomics
Volume24
Issue number7
Early online date11 Jun 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2025

User-Defined Keywords

  • Cytoskeleton-Plastoskeleton Continuum (CPC)
  • Plastid Movement-Impaired 4 (PMI4/FtsZ1)
  • Proximity Labeling (PL)
  • Quantitative biotinylproteomics
  • Retrograde calcium signal
  • Thigmomorphogenesis
  • Web1/PMI2-Related a4 (WPRa4/TREPH1)

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