A Touchy Topic: The mechanical nature of plant pathogenesis

Abstract

Plant pathogens generate enormous mechanical forces to breach the exterior defenses of their hosts. Plants detect these penetration forces and raise their mechanical defenses. The initial phases of plant pathogenesis are an escalating battle at the wall. My lab studies this process as a prime example of extreme mechanobiology. In host colonization, mechanical signals orchestrate cellular processes to the correct location at the right time. Despite being crucial for virulence, how pathogens and their host plants organize mechanical signaling is almost entirely unknown—leaving a mechanical perspective on controlling plant diseases untapped. In this talk, I will discuss the mechanical strategies used by pathogens to pierce their hosts and describe the existence of a penetration mechanostat (a mechanical homeostat) that organizes touch-gated cell polarity and is essential for host entry. Finally, I will discuss new, ongoing work and thoughts on the evolution of touch perception and touch polarity across the eukaryotic domain, and what this means for the molecular basis of mechanical signaling in the plant-pathogen battle.