TY - DATA T1 - Data from the paper An actin mechanostat ensures hyphal tip sharpness in Phytophthora infestans to facilitate host entry. PY - 2022/04/04 AU - Jochem Bronkhorst AU - Joris Sprakel AU - Francine Govers AU - Tijs Ketelaar UR - https://data.4tu.nl/articles/dataset/Data_from_the_paper_An_actin_mechanostat_ensures_hyphal_tip_sharpness_in_Phytophthora_infestans_to_facilitate_host_entry_/19367987/1 DO - 10.4121/19367987.v1 KW - Phytophthora infestans mechanobiology KW - Soft matter physics N2 -
Filamentous plant pathogens apply mechanical forces to pierce their hosts surface and penetrate its tissues. Devastating Phytophthora pathogens harness a specialized form of invasive tip growth to slice through the plant surface, wielding their hypha as a microscopic knife. Slicing requires a sharp hyphal tip that is not blunted at the site of the mechanical interaction. How tip shape is controlled, however, is unknown. We uncover an actin-based mechanostat in P. infestans that controls tip sharpness during penetration. Mechanical stimulation of the hypha leads to the emergence of an aster-like actin structure, which shows fast, local and quantitative feedback to the local stress. We evidence that this functions as an adaptive mechanical scaffold that sharpens the invasive weapon and prevents it from blunting. The hyphal tip mechanostat enables the efficient conversion of turgor into localized invasive pressures that are required to achieve host penetration.