Mechanism by which the gravity signal factor LZY recognizes the direction of gravity in columella cells.

Abstract

Plants regulate the direction of their growth in responding to the state and changes in the environmental factors, such as light, water, temperature, and nutrients. It is well known that gravity is the signal that allows roots to grow toward underground and stems and leaves to develop above the ground. When the direction of gravity is changed by turning the plant on its side, the plant senses the change of the direction of gravity and quickly corrects its growth, with the roots moving downward and the shoots moving upward. This is called gravitropism, and is widely known as a physiological event of plants regulated by gravity signaling. Plants do not have sensory organs like the “eyes and ears” found in animals, so how do they recognize the direction of gravity? This year, it was shown that Arabidopsis LAZY1-Like (LZY) plays a crucial role in the process of recognizing amyloplast sedimentation and transmitting information on the direction of gravity. In this paper, we first explain the historical background of gravity sensing in plants, and then describe the mechanism of gravity direction recognition exhibited by Arabidopsis LZY.