Bamboo Rapid Growth: Energy Homoeostasis, Mitochondrial Dynamics and Membrane Crosstalk

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is the most widely distributed and utilised woody bamboo species in China, accounting for approximately 4.43 million hectares (Chen et al. 2022). One of its most remarkable features is its explosive growth. During the spring growing season, newly emerged shoots can reach over 20 m in just 45–60 days, with peak daily elongation rates reaching up to 1.15 m per day (Chen et al. 2022). This extraordinary growth ability allows Moso bamboo to quickly secure ecological niches and supports its high efficiency in producing both bamboo culms and edible shoots. The rapid growth of Moso bamboo mainly relies on the rapid elongation (RE) of internodes and the high activity of meristems. This process involves cell wall expansion, cell-cycle regulation, hormone signalling, sugar metabolism and energy supply (Chen et al. 2022). As central biosynthetic and bioenergetic organelles, mitochondria not only produce ATP via oxidative phosphorylation but also contribute to and coordinate signal transduction pathways that influence plant growth and stress responses (Pantaleno et al. 2024). Furthermore, mitochondria interact with other cellular compartments to integrate metabolic and physiological signals and orchestrate growth and development (Welchen et al. 2021). Previous studies showed that mitochondrial fission increases to meet higher energy demands and support fast growth (Wang et al. 2022). However, the mechanisms by which mitochondria meet the substantial demands for ATP production, supply metabolic intermediates and enable metabolic adaptability in Moso bamboo remain unclear. In a recent study, Gao et al. (2025) systematically elucidated how mitochondrial energy homeostasis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–mitochondria membrane contact sites dynamically orchestrate the rapid growth process of Moso bamboo. The authors first observed a striking increase in mitochondrial number and motility during the RE stage compared with earlier stages, such as the initial growth (IG) stage and the initiation of cell division (SD) stage. By coupling increased mitochondrial density and mobility, Moso bamboo cells can optimise local ATP supply to regions undergoing active expansion. In addition, they analysed proteomic data, finding increased abundance of proteins associated with the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) during the RE stage. Metabolite analyses further corroborated this pattern, showing elevated levels of central intermediates such as succinate, fumarate and NADH. These findings demonstrated that Moso bamboo cells readjust their primary energy metabolism to sustain rapid ATP production (Figure 1). Moreover, an interesting aspect uncovered by Gao et al. (2025) is the synchronised transcriptional activation of both nuclear-encoded and mitochondrial-encoded OXPHOS genes during rapid growth. This coordination underscores the necessity of cross-organelle communication to ensure efficient energy metabolism. They also highlighted the significant upregulation of mitochondrial carrier proteins responsible for metabolite transport. Transporters such as mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC), ADP/ATP carrier (AAC) and mitochondrial phosphate carrier protein 3 (PiC3) were all highly expressed during the RE stage (Figure 1). Efficient import of respiratory substrates and export of newly synthesised ATP are critical bottlenecks during periods of intense metabolic flux; thus, reinforcing transport capacity represents a key adaptive strategy to prevent energy shortage under rapid expansion. Mitochondria-associated membranes (MAMs) serve as structural and functional platforms for lipid metabolism, calcium signalling transduction and mitochondrial fission (Bian et al. 2023). Gao et al. (2025) observed a significant increase in ER-mitochondria contact frequency during the RE stage. Molecular analysis showed upregulation of fission-related proteins such as DNM1 and ELM1, suggesting that ER-anchored mitochondrial fission actively contributes to expanding mitochondrial populations during the RE stage. For further proof of their hypothesis, the authors employed pharmacological disruption of ER homeostasis using dithiothreitol (DTT) and tunicamycin (TM). These treatments resulted in a decrease in mitochondrial number, thereby strengthening the proposed link between MAMs integrity and mitochondrial biogenesis under rapid growth conditions. Traditional views of plant growth regulation have heavily focused on hormonal control, transcriptional reprogramming and cell wall modifications. However, Gao et al. (2025) emphasised that subcellular organelle behaviour, particularly mitochondrial dynamics and membrane crosstalk, constitutes a pivotal layer of regulation. Another crucial insight from this study is the tight coupling between energy reprogramming and physical ER–mitochondria contacts (Figure 1). Increased energy production alone would be insufficient without corresponding enhancements in metabolite transport, spatial mitochondrial deployment and inter-organelle communication. This integrated adaptation strategy likely represents an evolutionarily optimised solution for supporting growth rates without compromising cellular homeostasis. Overall, Gao et al. (2025) shed light on mitochondrial energy remodelling and ER–mitochondria interactions underpinning Moso bamboo rapid growth. While the molecular machinery mediating the processes remains to be deeply elucidated. Of note, in Arabidopsis, mitochondrial retrograde regulation (MRR) is largely mediated by the ER-anchored NAC transcription factor ANAC017, which is cleaved and released from the ER and translocates to the nucleus upon mitochondrial stress (Khan et al. 2024). Whether the ER-NAC-mediated pathway participates in the regulation of Moso bamboo's rapid growth processes remains elusive. Furthermore, one of the functions of MAMs is to participate in Ca2+ transport (Bian et al. 2023). The potential involvement of MAMs-mediated Ca2+ signalling in cell fate determination or metabolic regulation during Moso bamboo's rapid growth represents an intriguing direction for future studies. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018 YFD0600101) and Beijing Forestry University Outstanding Postgraduate Mentoring Team Building (YJSY-DSTD2022005). The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.