Sending ROS on a bullet train.
Plants have to contend with biotic stress, such as disease, mechanical wounding, and herbivory, as well as abiotic stress, such as heat, cold, and salinity. An early warning system for these threats would prevent or reduce the damage suffered by plants. Such a warning system should allow the signal to be rapidly generated and sent over long distances. The study of systemic signaling in plants has been a major scientific challenge. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are among the systemic signals that have been proposed. Now, the exciting discovery that systemic ROS signaling is mediated by an NADPH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, reduced form) oxidase opens the door to understanding the molecular mechanisms that initiate and propagate a rapid systemic signal.
Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Takayama 8916-5, Ikoma, 630-0192 Nara, Japan.
Hann Ling
HL
Wong
Ko
K
Shimamoto
D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D019255:NADPH Oxidases / Q000502:physiology; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological
D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D019255:NADPH Oxidases; C022709:superoxide-forming enzyme