多细胞生物常因暴露在各种生物和非生物胁迫下而导致器官损伤或缺失。植物因固着性而演化出强大的再生能力以适应环境。尽管细胞损伤是植物组织修复和器官再生的原初物理诱因, 然而引发再生反应局部伤口信号的化学本质及其调控再生机制一直是科学界的难解之谜。最近一项研究发现1个调控植物局部伤口响应与再生能力的小肽REF1。研究表明, REF1与其受体PORK1通过植物损伤响应及细胞重编程关键转录因子WIND1促进植物再生。尤为重要的是, 外源施加REF1小肽可不同程度地提高几种作物的再生效率。这一发现不仅为理解植物损伤响应和再生的分子机制打开了全新视角, 而且为提高作物的再生能力和遗传转化效率提供了潜在的应用策略。

Living organisms are often exposed to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses that cause severe wounding, leading to partial or complete organ loss. Being sessile, plants have evolved powerful regenerative capabilities to adapt to the environment. Wounding is a prerequisite for plant regeneration, the local wound signals that trigger regenerative responses remained unknown for centuries. A recent study has identified a small peptide, REF1, that regulates local wound responses and regeneration capabilities in plants. The study found that REF1 and its receptor PORK1 can promote plant regeneration by activating WIND1, a master regulator of wound-induced cellular reprogramming in plants. Crucially, exogenous application of the REF1 peptide can improve the regeneration efficiency of several crops to varying degrees. This discovery not only provides a new perspective on the molecular mechanisms of plant injury responses and regene- ration, but also offers potential application strategies for enhancing the regenerative capacity and transformation efficiency of crops.