Sébastjen Schoenaers, Hyun Kyung Lee, Martine Gonneau, Elvina Faucher, Thomas Levasseur, Elodie Akary, Naomi Claeijs, Steven Moussu, Caroline Broyart, Daria Balcerowicz, Hamada AbdElgawad, Andrea Bassi, Daniel Santa Cruz Damineli, Alex Costa, José A Feijó, Celine Moreau, Estelle Bonnin, Bernard Cathala, Julia Santiago, Herman Höfte, Kris Vissenberg
Pressurized cells with strong walls make up the hydrostatic skeleton of plants. Assembly and expansion of such stressed walls depend on a family of secreted RAPID ALKALINIZATION FACTOR (RALF) peptides, which bind both a membrane receptor complex and wall-localized LEUCINE-RICH REPEAT EXTENSIN (LRXs) in a mutually exclusive way. Here we show that, in root hairs, the RALF22 peptide has a dual structural and signalling role in cell expansion. Together with LRX1, it directs the compaction of charged pectin polymers at the root hair tip into periodic circumferential rings...
March 11, 2024: Nature Plants