Abstract: 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.

Key words: REGENERATION FACTOR1 (REF1), plant elicitor peptide (Pep), tomato, wound responses, wound signal, regeneration, regeneration factor, systemin