# Signaling in cell expansion and morphogenesis

> **NIH NIH R01** · CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON, D.C. · 2020 · $479,136

## Abstract

Project Summary
The integrity of cells is tightly controlled to keep organisms alive in the face of environmental change. The
normal process of growth, however, requires that cells partly disrupt cellular structures that provide stability.
These conflicting cellular priorities create challenges for cells in balancing integrity and extensibility. The root
of Arabidopsis is adept at dynamically regulating growth in response to stressful environments such as salinity
and provides a model developmental system where growth is localized to a specific region of the organ that is
accessible to high-resolution imaging. Recent work has revealed that cell integrity during salt stress is
maintained through the mechano-sensitive receptor-like kinase FERONIA. Identification of this essential
regulatory pathway provides opportunities to understand the mechanism cells use to integrate information on
cellular mechanics into decisions that control the biosynthesis of the extracellular matrix, which determines the
growth potential of cells.
Current understanding of how growth is organized in plants has largely focused on cellular contexts where tip-
growth is predominant and wall biosynthesis is localized to a discrete focal area in the cell. This process is
thought to be distinct from the major mode of cell growth in organs where delivery of new wall materials occurs
in a distributed manner across the cell. New work presented here identifies an essential function for the
FERONIA (FER) kinase in regulating the mechanical properties of the wall and cell integrity under salt stress.
These findings suggest that dynamic regulation of wall biosynthesis by mechanical cues may be necessary to
maintain cell integrity during stress.
The project aims to elucidate the cellular mechanisms by which salinity disrupts cell integrity and the role of
FERONIA in reorganizing the biosynthesis of the extracellular matrix to permit growth while maintaining cell
integrity. To achieve this goal we will use high-resolution imaging approaches including light and force
measurements and advanced proteomic methods that enable molecular insight into the biochemical pathways
that link wall mechanics to intracellular signaling, cytoskeletal dynamics and ECM biosynthesis. Specifically
we aim to 1) Understand the role of FER in regulating vesicle trafficking and dynamical properties of the actin
and microtubule-based cytoskeleton to understand how these processes affect delivery of cargo for wall
biosynthesis during stress. 2) FER-dependent intracellular calcium transients will be used as beacons of
signaling activity to determine the cell-autonomy of FER function with respect to cell integrity and vesicle
trafficking. 3) Quantitative phosphoproteomics will identify signaling components that directly interact with FER
and the Rho-GTPase from Plants (ROPs) to link receptor activity to wall biosynthesis and calcium signaling.
The proposed research is significant as it will advance our understanding ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9901546
- **Project number:** 5R01GM123259-04
- **Recipient organization:** CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSE R DINNENY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $479,136
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-25 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9901546

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9901546, Signaling in cell expansion and morphogenesis (5R01GM123259-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9901546. Licensed CC0.

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