Mechanostimulation: a promising alternative for sustainable agriculture practices

Abstract

Plants memorize events associated with environmental fluctuations. The integration of environmental signals as molecular memory allows plants to cope with future stressors more efficiently — this phenomenon is known as 'priming'. Primed plants are more resilient to environmental stresses compared to non-primed plants as they are capable of triggering robust and faster defence responses. Interestingly, exposure to various forms of mechanical stimuli (e.g. touching, wind, and sound vibration) enhance plants' basal defence responses and stress tolerance. Thus, mechanostimulation appears to be a potential priming method and a promising alternative to chemical-based priming for sustainable agriculture. According to the presently available method, mechanical treatment needs to be repeated over a month to alter plant growth and defence responses. Such a long treatment protocol restricts its applicability to fast-growing crops. To optimize the protocol for a broad range of crops, we need to understand the molecular mechanisms behind plant mechano-responses, which is complex and depends on the frequency, intervals, and duration of the mechanical treatment. In this review, we summarise the molecular underpinning of plant mechanoperception and signal transduction to gain a mechanistic understanding of mechano-stimulated priming process.

Mechanical stress acclimation in plants: Linking hormones and somatic memory to thigmomorphogenesis

“…Storage of information about past stressful events is one way plants cope with changes in the environment. This process is referred to as priming that facilitates a rapid and stronger response to future stress encounters compared to the initial stress response (Avramova, 2019; Ghosh et al, 2021; Hilker & Schmülling, 2019; Mauch‐Mani et al, 2017). Priming is deployed as an adaptive trait to improve plant fitness against ecological challenges.…”

Touch signaling and thigmomorphogenesis are regulated by complementary CAMTA3- and JA-dependent pathways

“…In addition to this, it has been noted that repetitive mechanical stimulation improves plant performance in stressful environments like pathogen attack, drought, salinity, and cold ( 4 , 7 – 9 ). Thus, mechanostimulation has been gaining attention as a potential method for sustainable agriculture practices to improve food security ( 10 ). However, the plant response to mechanical stimulation is very complex, as it depends on the intensity of mechanical load and frequency of exposures ( 10 ).…”

“…Thus, mechanostimulation has been gaining attention as a potential method for sustainable agriculture practices to improve food security ( 10 ). However, the plant response to mechanical stimulation is very complex, as it depends on the intensity of mechanical load and frequency of exposures ( 10 ). Understanding the molecular mechanism of plant mechanoperception and thigmomorphogenesis is imperative to apply this method for large-scale farming.…”

Between Stress and Response: Function and Localization of Mechanosensitive Ca2+ Channels in Herbaceous and Perennial Plants

“…In Poaceae, exposure to wind and imposed flexure have an impact on agronomic traits [140]. Furthermore, as several studies showed that various forms of mechanical stimuli enhanced plants' basal defense responses (see [141] for a review), mechanostimulation could be a potential priming method for sustainable agriculture, alternative to chemical-based priming. Developing efficient applications requires new phenotyping techniques for measuring mechanical traits such as the resistance to lodging [142], but also a deeper understanding of the actors involved in the mechanosensing pathways.…”