Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties
Gallemi M, Montesinos López JC, Zarevski N, Pribyl J, Skládal P, Hannezo EB, Benková E. 2025. Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties. Frontiers in Plant Science. 16, 1612366.
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Author
Gallemi Rovira, MarcalISTA
;
Montesinos López, Juan CISTA
;
Zarevski, NikolaISTA;
Pribyl, Jan;
Skládal, Petr;
Hannezo, Edouard ISTA
;
Benková, EvaISTA 




Corresponding author has ISTA affiliation
Department
Abstract
Introduction: Acid-growth theory has been postulated in the 70s to explain the rapid elongation of plant cells in response to the hormone auxin. More recently, it has been demonstrated that activation of the proton ATPs pump (H+-ATPs) promoting acidification of the apoplast is the principal mechanism by which auxin and other hormones such as brassinosteroids (BR) induce cell elongation. Despite these advances, the impact of this acidification on the mechanical properties of the cell wall remained largely unexplored.
Methods: Here, we use elongation assays of Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to correlate hormone-induced tissue elongation and local changes in cell wall mechanical properties. Furthermore, employing transgenic lines over-expressing Pectin Methyl Esterase (PME), along with calcium chelators, we investigate the effect of pectin modification in hormone-driven cell elongation.
Results: We demonstrate that acidification of apoplast is necessary and sufficient to induce cell elongation through promoting cell wall softening. Moreover, we show that enhanced PME activity can induce both cell wall softening or stiffening in extracellular calcium dependent-manner and that tight control of PME activity is required for proper hypocotyl elongation.
Discussion: Our results confirm a dual role of PME in plant cell elongation. However, further investigation is needed to assess the status of pectin following short- or long-term PME treatments in order to determine if pectin methyl-esterification might promote its degradation as well as the role of PME inhibitors upon PME induction.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2025-07-04
Journal Title
Frontiers in Plant Science
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Acknowledgement
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by grants from the European Research Council (Starting Independent Research Grant ERC-2007-Stg- 207362-HCPO to EB) and MG was recipient of an IST Interdisciplinary project (IC1022IPC03).
We acknowledge Jaume F. Martı́nez Garcı́a for phyAphyB mutant seeds. We acknowledge CF Nanobiotechnology of CIISB, Instruct-CZ Centre, supported by MEYS CR (LM2018127). We gratefully acknowledge support by the Scientific Service Units at ISTA, including the Imaging and Optics and Lab Support facilities and Library. We thank Stefan Riegler for the efforts to establish immunodetection method.
Acknowledged SSUs
Volume
16
Article Number
1612366
eISSN
IST-REx-ID
Cite this
Gallemi M, Montesinos López JC, Zarevski N, et al. Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties. Frontiers in Plant Science. 2025;16. doi:10.3389/fpls.2025.1612366
Gallemi, M., Montesinos López, J. C., Zarevski, N., Pribyl, J., Skládal, P., Hannezo, E. B., & Benková, E. (2025). Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties. Frontiers in Plant Science. Frontiers Media. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1612366
Gallemi, Marçal, Juan C Montesinos López, Nikola Zarevski, Jan Pribyl, Petr Skládal, Edouard B Hannezo, and Eva Benková. “Dual Role of Pectin Methyl Esterase Activity in the Regulation of Plant Cell Wall Biophysical Properties.” Frontiers in Plant Science. Frontiers Media, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1612366.
M. Gallemi et al., “Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties,” Frontiers in Plant Science, vol. 16. Frontiers Media, 2025.
Gallemi M, Montesinos López JC, Zarevski N, Pribyl J, Skládal P, Hannezo EB, Benková E. 2025. Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties. Frontiers in Plant Science. 16, 1612366.
Gallemi, Marçal, et al. “Dual Role of Pectin Methyl Esterase Activity in the Regulation of Plant Cell Wall Biophysical Properties.” Frontiers in Plant Science, vol. 16, 1612366, Frontiers Media, 2025, doi:10.3389/fpls.2025.1612366.
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