Diffusion and bulk flow of amino acids mediate calcium waves in plants.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36269836.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abo6693 and PMC identifier 9586480.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
In plants, a variety of stimuli trigger long-range calcium signals that travel rapidly along the vasculature to distal tissues via poorly understood mechanisms. Here, we use quantitative imaging and analysis to demonstrate that traveling calcium waves are mediated by diffusion and bulk flow of amino acid chemical messengers. We propose that wounding triggers release of amino acids that diffuse locally through the apoplast, activating the calcium-permeable channel GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE 3.3 as they pass. Over long distances through the vasculature, the wound-triggered dynamics of a fluorescent tracer show that calcium waves are likely driven by bulk flow of a channel-activating chemical. We observed that multiple stimuli trigger calcium waves with similar dynamics, but calcium waves alone cannot initiate all systemic defense responses, suggesting that mobile chemical messengers are a core component of complex systemic signaling in plants.