Multi-scale thermal homeostasis: Plants achieve temperature control through hierarchical regulation

Multi-scale thermal homeostasis: Plants achieve temperature control through hierarchical regulation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Multi-scale thermal homeostasis: Plants achieve temperature control through hierarchical regulation Yuqiang Jiang, xia chen, Chao Li, Rongcheng Han, Fan Chen, Lu Huang, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9602775/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Temperature fundamentally impacts plants growth and physiology. However, the mechanisms by which plants sense and response to environmental changes remain unclear due to the lack of effective methods for measuring internal plant temperatures. Here, by combining lab-made nanothermometric probes with time-gated imaging technique, we accurately detected the change in internal plant temperature in response to environmental temperature variations. We discovered a multilevel temperature regulation mechanism during the process by which plants establish thermal homeostasis. In Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, when environment temperature changes from approximately 24°C to 45°C, the maximum of internal plant temperature change is only approximately 10°C near cell wall, and less than 7°C in cytoplasm, while remaining nearly constant in chloroplasts (ΔTchl ≈ 1°C). Similar compartment-specific thermal regulation was observed in Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato, indicating that hierarchical regulation represents a conserved strategy for maintaining internal temperature stability in plants. Together, these findings provide direct evidence for multiscale thermal homeostasis in plants and establish a framework for understanding how cellular and subcellular organization contributes to temperature regulation. Biological sciences/Plant sciences/Plant stress responses/Biotic Biological sciences/Biological techniques/Nanobiotechnology/Biosensors Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.pdf Multi-scale thermal homeostasis: Plants achieve temperature control through hierarchical regulation Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9602775","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":635526341,"identity":"42d0566e-2e65-47e3-9d75-48c4b12ff150","order_by":0,"name":"Yuqiang 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However, the mechanisms by which plants sense and response to environmental changes remain unclear due to the lack of effective methods for measuring internal plant temperatures. Here, by combining lab-made nanothermometric probes with time-gated imaging technique, we accurately detected the change in internal plant temperature in response to environmental temperature variations. We discovered a multilevel temperature regulation mechanism during the process by which plants establish thermal homeostasis. In Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, when environment temperature changes from approximately 24°C to 45°C, the maximum of internal plant temperature change is only approximately 10°C near cell wall, and less than 7°C in cytoplasm, while remaining nearly constant in chloroplasts (ΔTchl ≈ 1°C). 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