Recent Posts

Methyltransferase TaSAMT1 mediates wheat freezing tolerance by integrating brassinosteroid and salicylic acid signaling

Temperature extremes, such as cold stress, severely affect wheat (Triticum aestivum) productivity and quality by impairing its vegetative and reproductive growth. Several phytohormones have roles in cold stress, such as brassinosteroids (BRs) and salicylic acid (SA). However, how BR interacts with SA…

Review: Salicylic acid in plant immunity and beyond

Salicylic acid (SA) is a pivotal natural compound in plant science and finds applications in herbal medicine; specifically, aspirin, the renowned anti-inflammatory drug and pain reliever, is a derivative of SA. As summarized in this review by Spoel and Dong, within plants SA serves as a crucial phytohormone…

PSKR1 balances the plant growth–defence trade-off in the rhizosphere microbiome

Plants are colonized by numerous beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere, including Pseudomonas fluorescens, that provide benefits including nutrient acquisition and pathogen protection. Host plants must tune their immune systems to restrict microbial overgrowth, while avoiding overstimulation of…

UGT71L1 in Poplar Connects Salicinoid and Salicylic Acid Metabolism

Gordon et al. report that knock-out of a recently discovered enzyme for salicinoid biosynthesis in poplar leads to changes in salicylic acid and jasmonic acid metabolism and has unexpected effects on growth.. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koac135 By Peter Constabel and Harley Gordon Background:…

Chloroplast redox state changes mark cell-to-cell signalling in the hypersensitive response (New Phytol)

Programmed cell death (PCD) plays roles in both developmental and environmental responses across plant species. During pathogen attack, the hypersensitive response can limit spread of infection by orchestrating an organised death of cells around the infection area. A recent study by Lukan et al. demonstrated…

MED8 keeps H2O2-dependent gene expression under control

He et al. demonstrate that Mediator complex subunits have functions beyond their known roles in transcription. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab079 By Huaming He, Patrick Willems, Frank Van Breusegem, and Amna Mhamdi Background: Plants often face challenging environments to which they…

Here, there and everywhere: Plastid- and nuclear-localized WHIRLY1 regulates salicylic acid homeostasis during developmental senescence

Does a new job always come with a new location? Perhaps this is true for some plant proteins; half of the proteins are located in more than one subcellular compartment. Emerging evidence in plants shows that nuclear-encoded proteins undergo redox and posttranslational modifications or processing events…

On how to build a larger and healthier Arabidopsis ROSette using a mitochondrial protein (spoiler: reactive oxygen species)

Javier Edgardo Moreno ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9763-5325 Twitter: @JaviMorenoOK Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral (UNL-Conicet), Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional del Litoral Santa Fe 3000, Argentina   Cellular respiration is at the core…

Zones of Defense? SA Receptors Have it Under Control

The constant evolutionary arms race with pathogens has equipped plants with a layered immune system. As the first line of defense, membrane-localized pattern recognition receptors perceive microbe-associated molecular patterns and activate pattern-triggered immunity (PTI). In parallel, R proteins –…