The mechanical properties of Arabidopsis thaliana roots adapt dynamically during development and to stress

Abstract

Mechanical properties of plant cells and tissues change dynamically, influencing plant growth, development, and interactions with the environment. Despite their central roles in plant life, current knowledge of how these properties change in vivo is very limited. Here we have combined Brillouin microscopy and molecular rotors to investigate stiffness, viscosity and porosity in living Arabidopsis thaliana seedling roots during differentiation and in response to stress and genetic manipulation. We found that mechanical properties change in a cell- and tissue-specific manner. The properties change dynamically during differentiation to support directional cell expansion. Cell-type-specific adaptations are induced within hours in response to stress or changes in cell wall metabolism. The findings form the foundation for future studies to characterize regulatory mechanisms linking biochemical signaling and mechanical properties.

Plant phenotyping relevance

生きた植物体での硬さ・粘性・多孔性をBrillouin顕微鏡と分子ローターにより測定する手法適用が研究の中核であり、植物の生理状態・組織特性を定量化している。

Code and data availability

The paper's Brillouin/FLIM/QPI phenotyping data are stated to be in the main text or supplementary materials, and the custom MATLAB analysis code is only available upon reasonable request; no public repository, dataset, or code URL is provided in the supplied blocks.

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