Plant mechanosensitive ion channels: an ocean of possibilities

- Mechanosensitive ion channels are capable of transducing force into ion flux.
- Three families of plant MS channels are described to date and many more likely exist.
- MS channels were repurposed during evolution to perform novel functions in plants.
- They play roles in root mechanosensing and osmoregulation.
- Mechanistic insight will require novel structural studies and in vivo analyses.

Mechanosensitive ion channels, transmembrane proteins that directly couple mechanical stimuli to ion flux, serve to sense and respond to changes in membrane tension in all branches of life. In plants, mechanosensitive channels have been implicated in the perception of important mechanical stimuli such as osmotic pressure, touch, gravity, and pathogenic invasion. Indeed, three established families of plant mechanosensitive ion channels play roles in cell and organelle osmoregulation and root mechanosensing - and it is likely that many other channels and functions await discovery. Inspired by recent discoveries in bacterial and animal systems, we are beginning to establish the conserved and the unique ways in which mechanosensitive channels function in plants.