Plant roots adapt to the mechanical constraints of the soil to grow and absorb water and nutrients. As in animal species, mechanosensitive ion channels in plants are proposed to transduce external mechanical forces into biological signals. However, the identity of these plant root ion channels remains unknown. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana PIEZO1 (PZO1) has preserved the function of its animal relatives and acts as an ion channel. We present evidence that plant PIEZO1 is expressed in the columella and lateral root cap cells of the root tip, which are known to experience robust mechanical strain during root growth. Deleting PZO1 from the whole plant significantly reduced the ability of its roots to penetrate denser barriers compared to wild-type plants. pzo1 mutant root tips exhibited diminished calcium transients in response to mechanical stimulation, supporting a role of PZO1 in root mechanotransduction. Finally, a chimeric PZO1 channel that includes the C-terminal half of PZO1 containing the putative pore region was functional and mechanosensitive when expressed in naive mammalian cells. Collectively, our data suggest that Arabidopsis PIEZO1 plays an important role in root mechanotransduction and establish PIEZOs as physiologically relevant mechanosensitive ion channels across animal and plant kingdoms.

植物根系适应土壤的机械约束生长并吸收水分和养分。与动物物种一样，植物中的机械敏感离子通道被提议将外部机械力转换为生物信号。然而，这些植物根离子通道的身份仍然未知。在这里，我们展示了拟南芥PIEZO1 (PZO1) 保留了其动物亲属的功能并充当离子通道。我们提供的证据表明植物 PIEZO1 在根尖的小柱和侧根冠细胞中表达，已知这些细胞在根生长过程中会经历强大的机械应变。与野生型植物相比，从整株植物中删除 PZO1 会显着降低其根部穿透更密集屏障的能力。pzo1突变的根尖表现出响应机械刺激的钙瞬变减少，支持 PZO1 在根机械转导中的作用。最后，当在幼稚的哺乳动物细胞中表达时，嵌合 PZO1 通道包括 PZO1 的 C 端一半，其中含有假定的孔区域。总的来说，我们的数据表明拟南芥PIEZO1 在根机械转导中发挥重要作用，并将 PIEZO 建立为跨动植物界的生理相关机械敏感离子通道。