Calcium mobilizations in response to changes in the gravity vector in Arabidopsis seedlings: possible cellular mechanisms

Gravity influences the growth direction of higher plants. Changes in the gravity vector (gravistimulation) immediately promote the increase in the cytoplasmic free calcium ion concentration ([Ca(2+)]c) in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings. When the seedlings are gravistimulated by reorientation at 180°, a transient two peaked (biphasic) [Ca(2+)]c-increase arises in their hypocotyl and petioles. Parabolic flights (PFs) can generate a variety of gravity-stimuli, and enables us to measure gravity-induced [Ca(2+)]c-increases without specimen rotation, which demonstrate that Arabidopsis seedlings possess a rapid gravity-sensing mechanism linearly transducing a wide range of gravitational changes into Ca(2+) signals on a sub-second timescale. Hypergravity by centrifugation (20 g or 300 g) also induces similar transient [Ca(2+)]c-increases. In this review, we propose models for possible cellular processes of the garavi-stimulus-induced [Ca(2+)]c-increase, and evaluate those by examining whether the model fits well with the kinetic parameters derived from the [Ca(2+)]c-increases obtained by applying gravistimulus with different amplitudes and time sequences.