A theory of mechanical stress-induced H2O2 signaling waveforms in Planta.

Recent progress in nanotechnology-enabled sensors that can be placed inside of living plants has shown that it is possible to relay and record real-time chemical signaling stimulated by various abiotic and biotic stresses. The mathematical form of the resulting local reactive oxygen species (ROS) wave released upon mechanical perturbation of plant leaves appears to be conserved across a large number of species, and produces a distinct waveform from other stresses including light, heat and pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-induced stresses. Herein, we develop a quantitative theory of the local ROS signaling waveform resulting from mechanical stress in planta. We show that nonlinear, autocatalytic production and Fickian diffusion of H2O2 followed by first order decay well describes the spatial and temporal properties of the waveform. The reaction-diffusion system is analyzed in terms of a new approximate solution that we introduce for such problems based on a single term logistic function ansatz. The theory is able to describe experimental ROS waveforms and degradation dynamics such that species-dependent dimensionless wave velocities are revealed, corresponding to subtle changes in higher moments of the waveform through an apparently conserved signaling mechanism overall. This theory has utility in potentially decoding other stress signaling waveforms for light, heat and PAMP-induced stresses that are similarly under investigation. The approximate solution may also find use in applied agricultural sensing, facilitating the connection between measured waveform and plant physiology.

Predicting Peptide Ionization Efficiencies for Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Using Machine Learning.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is inherently an information-rich technique. In this era of big data, label-free MS quantification for nontargeted studies has gained increasing popularity, especially for complex systems. One of the cornerstones of successful label-free quantification is the predictive modeling of ionization efficiency (IE) based on solutes' physicochemical properties. While many have studied IE modeling for small molecules, there are limited reports on peptide IEs. In this study, we leverage the stoichiometric relationship in trypsin digests of well-characterized monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to compile a data set of relative ionization efficiencies (RIEs) for 241 peptides. From each peptide's sequence, we computed a set of physiochemical descriptors, which were then used to train machine learning regression models to predict RIEs. Peptides shorter than 20 amino acids had RIEs that were highly correlated to their molecular weight. A random forest (RF) model was able to best predict the RIEs of a test data set with a mean relative error of 23.9%. For larger peptides, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) model improved RIE prediction compared to current best practices, reducing mean relative error from 60.5% to 32.0%. Finally, we also show the application of the RF model in label-free relative protein quantification and improving the quantification of peptide post-translational modifications (PTMs). This approach to predicting peptide IEs from their sequences enables the development of accurate label-free quantification workflows for peptide and protein analysis.

Decoding early stress signaling waves in living plants using nanosensor multiplexing.

Increased exposure to environmental stresses due to climate change have adversely affected plant growth and productivity. Upon stress, plants activate a signaling cascade, involving multiple molecules like H2O2, and plant hormones such as salicylic acid (SA) leading to resistance or stress adaptation. However, the temporal ordering and composition of the resulting cascade remains largely unknown. In this study we developed a nanosensor for SA and multiplexed it with H2O2 nanosensor for simultaneous monitoring of stress-induced H2O2 and SA signals when Brassica rapa subsp. Chinensis (Pak choi) plants were subjected to distinct stress treatments, namely light, heat, pathogen stress and mechanical wounding. Nanosensors reported distinct dynamics and temporal wave characteristics of H2O2 and SA generation for each stress. Based on these temporal insights, we have formulated a biochemical kinetic model that suggests the early H2O2 waveform encodes information specific to each stress type. These results demonstrate that sensor multiplexing can reveal stress signaling mechanisms in plants, aiding in developing climate-resilient crops and pre-symptomatic stress diagnoses.