关键词: 拟南芥, 质外体pH, 感受器

Abstract: The apoplast is the frontier area for plants to sense and respond to environmental stresses (including biotic and abiotic stresses). The pH of the apoplast is an important physiological parameter that is tightly regulated. Environmental stress (such as bacterial disease) can cause alkalinization of plant apoplast, but how does apoplast pH coordinate root growth and immune response? Its molecular regulation mechanism is still unclear. Recently, the team of Professor Hongwei Guo from the School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, and the team of Professor Jijie Chai from Tsinghua University-Max Planck Institute of Germany-University of Cologne used the model plant Arabidopsis as research materials, through genetic, cellular, biochemical and structural biology. By means of comprehensive methods, it was found that the small peptide-receptor complex on the cell surface can act as an apoplast pH sensor to sense and respond to the apoplast alkalinization of Arabidopsis root apex meristem cells induced by pattern triggered immunity (PTI). The results of this research have discovered the protein complex and response mechanism of plant root apex meristem apoplast pH sensing, as well as the coordination mechanism between immunity and growth, further understanding the biology reaction process of how plants balance growth and immune response.

Key words: Arabidopsis thaliana, apoplast pH, receptor