Plant mechanosensing integrates cell wall mechanics with growth and stress responses

Abstract

Plants experience mechanical forces generated by growth, geometry, and turgor pressure, as well as environmental challenges such as osmotic fluctuation, physical constraint, wounding, and pathogen attack. A central problem in plant mechanobiology is not simply how force is detected, but which mechanochemical variables are interpreted at the cell surface. Here, we address recent advances and propose a layered framework in which mechanosensitive ion channels, cell wall integrity pathways and receptor-like kinases, and the cortical microtubule–cellulose synthase axis act as partially specialized sensing layers. Plant mechanosensing cannot be explained by membrane tension alone, because wall stress, wall strain, membrane deformation, and wall chemical state often change together but represent different aspects of the cell surface. These layers converge on Ca 2+ , ROS, MAPK, hormone, trafficking, and wall remodeling responses, determining whether growth is maintained, redirected, reinforced, repaired, or defended. This framework predicts that rapid membrane deformation, altered wall status, and directional tissue stress are preferentially interpreted through ion channels, wall integrity receptors, and cortical microtubule–cellulose synthase coupling, generating distinct adaptive responses despite shared downstream signals.