A plant mutant that shows normal gravitropic bending but does not store starch in its plastids would require a revaluation of the role of statoliths.
Responsive growth is characteristic of terrestrial plants. Different environmental influences are prioritized and integrated into a single output: cell elongation in specific regions of the plant.
This differential growth is characteristic of the gravitational response and involves the spatial separation of cell sensing and expansion.
In roots, gravity is sensed in these columella cells through sedimentation of starch-filled amyloplasts called statoliths.
Statoliths, denser than the cytoplasm, occupy the centre of the cell and are packed into a dense network of actin filaments (AFs).
Gravity-driven redistribution of statoliths stimulates signaling cascades that are initially cell-autonomous, but result in asymmetric cell-to-cell migration and directed proliferative responses.
However, both the identity of the mechanoreceptors thought to sense statoliths settling and their direct signaling cascade are unknown.
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