Mechanical sensing is one of the most fundamental processes for sessile plants to survive and grow. The response is known to involve calcium elevation in the cell. Arabidopsis seedlings grown horizontally on agar plates covered with a dialysis membrane show a 2-fold reduction in root growth compared with those grown vertically, a response to mechanical stress generated due to gravitropism of the root. To understand the molecular mechanism of how plant roots sense and respond to mechanical stimuli, we screened chemical libraries for compounds that affect the horizontal root growth in this experimental system and found that, while having no effect on root gravitropism, omeprazole known as a proton pump inhibitor significantly enhanced the mechanical stress-induced root growth reduction especially in lower pH media. In contrast, omeprazole reversed neither the alleviation of the mechanical stress-induced growth reduction caused by calcium depletion nor the insensitivity to the mechanical stress in the ethylene signaling mutant ein2. Together with the finding that omeprazole increased expression of touch-induced genes and ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR1, our results suggest that the target of omeprazole mediates ethylene signaling in the root growth response to mechanical stress.
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