Molecular oxygen as a signaling component in plant development

Daan A. Weits*, Joost T. van Dongen, Francesco Licausi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

While traditionally hypoxia has been studied as a detrimental component of flooding stress, the last decade has flourished with studies reporting the involvement of molecular oxygen availability in plant developmental processes. Moreover, proliferating and undifferentiated cells from different plant tissues were found to reside in endogenously generated hypoxic niches. Thus, stress-associated acute hypoxia may be distinguished from constitutively generated chronic hypoxia. The Cys/Arg branch of the N-degron pathway assumes a central role in integrating oxygen levels resulting in proteolysis of transcriptional regulators that control different aspects of plant growth and development. As a target of this pathway, group VII of the Ethylene Response Factor (ERF-VII) family has emerged as a hub for the integration of oxygen dynamics in root development and during seedling establishment. Additionally, vegetative shoot meristem activity and reproductive transition were recently associated with oxygen availability via two novel substrates of the N-degron pathways: VERNALISATION 2 (VRN2) and LITTLE ZIPPER 2 (ZPR2). Together, these observations support roles for molecular oxygen as a signalling molecule in plant development, as well as in essential metabolic reactions. Here, we review recent findings regarding oxygen-regulated development, and discuss outstanding questions that spring from these discoveries.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24-35
Number of pages12
JournalNew Phytologist
Volume229
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors New Phytologist © 2020 New Phytologist Foundation

Keywords

  • hypoxia
  • meristem
  • N-degron pathway
  • oxygen
  • plant evolution
  • root
  • shoot apex

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