Tag: Signals and Responses

eLife Besides its role as an enzyme cofactor, NAD is also a plant signaling molecule. In particular, it leaks from wounded areas and activates defense pathways in the neighboring tissue, an effect that can be mimicked by application of extracellular NAD. The presence of a sensing mechanism for extracellular…

One of the most exciting findings in the past few decades is the discovery that individual mRNAs and noncoding RNAs can act as long-distance signaling messengers traveling cell to cell to distant sites in the plant. Numerous examples unveiled the involvement of endogenous RNAs as non-cell-autonomous…

Phosphorylation and de-phosphorylation are fundamental events for signal transduction. Phytohormone and light signaling are no exception in this case. Plants face towards light by creating lateral auxin gradient between exposed and shaded sides. This asymmetric auxin distribution is mediated through…

Small secreted peptides including CLEs have been identified as contributing to plant development. CLE26 and CLE45 have been shown to regulate protophloem differentiation in the root tip. Anne et al. used a combination of genetic screening and transcriptomics to identify factors downstream of these peptides.…

Crosstalk, crosstalk— it’s a word that keeps coming up. Indeed, and perhaps not surprisingly, plant hormone signaling pathways all seem to affect each other to some extent. For example, the MYC2 transcription factor plays roles in abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) signaling in the response…

Plants modify gene expression and physiological processes to overcome temporal and spatial variations in nitrogen availability. These modifications rely on complex root-shoot-root signaling networks which are triggered by cytokinin biosynthesis. Poitout and colleagues use mutant analysis, transcriptome…

Zhang et al. show how PSK initiates Ca2+- and auxin-dependent immunity https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00537.  By Huan Zhang, Zhangjian Hu and Kai Shi Background: During plant-microbe interactions, some small secreted peptides are secreted into the apoplast between plant cells as damage-associated…

Majeran et al. investigate how plant cells target proteins to membrane compartments https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00523 By Wojciech Majeran, Thierry Meinnel & Carmela Giglione Background: Living cells are encased in an oily barrier, the plasma membrane, made up of a double layer of lipids…