Molecular PlantPub Date : 2025-08-04Epub Date: 2025-07-03DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.001
Swati Mahiwal, Tonni Grube Andersen, Defeng Shen
{"title":"Establishment and functions of the Casparian strip.","authors":"Swati Mahiwal, Tonni Grube Andersen, Defeng Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19012,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Plant","volume":" ","pages":"1249-1252"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144567557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A novel OsCRK14-OsRLCK57-MAPK signaling module activates OsbZIP66 to confer drought resistance in rice.","authors":"Tiantian Ye, Huaijun Wang, Lingqun Zhang, Xiaokai Li, Haifu Tu, Zilong Guo, Tong Gao, Yu Zhang, Ying Ye, Bingchen Li, Weiping Yang, Yibo Li, Xuelei Lai, Faming Dong, Haiyan Xiong, Lizhong Xiong","doi":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drought stress severely limits rice productivity. Understanding of drought-response mechanisms in rice is essential for developing climate-resilient varieties. While cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) are primarily implicated in plant development and immunity, their role in drought response remains poorly understood. In this study, we identified a CRK, OsCRK14, as a key positive regulator of drought resistance in rice. We demonstrated that plasma membrane-localized OsCRK14 phosphorylates the receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase OsRLCK57 under drought stress, leading to activate a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade (OsMKKK10-OsMKK4-OsMPK6). Activated OsMPK6 directly phosphorylates the abscisic acid-responsive transcription factor OsbZIP66 at conserved Serine-Proline/Threonine-Proline motifs, enhancing its stability and promoting drought-responsive gene expression. Furthermore, we found that natural variations in the OsCRK14 promoter influence its transcript levels due to the altered OsMYB72 binding affinities, which are correlated with drought-resistance differences among rice varieties. Collectively, our study discovers a novel CRK-RLCK-MAPK-bZIP signaling pathway that connects membrane signal sensing to transcriptional regulation in drought response, providing both mechanistic insights and genetic resources for breeding drought-resistant rice.</p>","PeriodicalId":19012,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Plant","volume":" ","pages":"1390-1408"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144659668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Molecular PlantPub Date : 2025-08-04Epub Date: 2025-06-18DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2025.06.008
Vincent E Cerbantez-Bueno, G Venugopala Reddy
{"title":"Temperature regulation of CLAVATA3 arabinosylation.","authors":"Vincent E Cerbantez-Bueno, G Venugopala Reddy","doi":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.06.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.06.008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19012,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Plant","volume":" ","pages":"1262-1264"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144333540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Targeted protein and protein-condensate degradation in plant science research and crop breeding.","authors":"Ruixia Niu, Ming Luo, Qing Wen, Yifan Xiong, Hua Dang, Guoyong Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.06.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.06.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gene expression can be modulated at DNA, RNA, or protein levels, with targeted protein degradation (TPD) representing a well-established and effective strategy for manipulating protein function. TPD enables the selective elimination of proteins, protein condensates, or organelles via cellular degradation pathways, such as the ubiquitin-proteasome system, autophagy, or endocytosis, through induced proximity mechanisms. While TPD has had a transformative impact in biomedical research over the past two decades, its applications in plant science research has lagged behind. This gap stems from the dominance of RNA interference and CRISPR technologies, as well as the complexity and cost of chemical, macromolecular, and recombinant degrader platforms in plants. The recent development of genetically encoded chimeric protein degraders (GE-CPDs) offers a timely and promising alternative. These transgene-based systems offer a plant-adaptable, precise, tunable, and conditional means for controlling endogenous protein levels, opening new avenues for studying dynamic biological processes and engineering complex traits in crops. As genome engineering technologies continue to advance, GE-CPDs are poised to become a versatile and scalable platform for plant biology research and agricultural applications. In this review, we highlight five key opportunities-Selective-Targeting, Co-Targeting, Organelle-Targeting, Conditional-Targeting, and Synthetic Engineering (SCOCS)-that illustrate the emerging importance of TPD technologies, especially GE-CPDs, in advancing plant science. We argue that the field is well-positioned to harness the full potential of TPD for next-generation crop improvement.</p>","PeriodicalId":19012,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Plant","volume":" ","pages":"1270-1283"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144497530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fungal extracellular vesicles mediate cross-kingdom trafficking of virulence effectors into plant cells to promote infection.","authors":"Zhangying Wang, Wei Li, Guangren Kang, Jiliang Deng, Shanshan Qin, Qiang Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.molp.2025.07.009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitate cross-kingdom communication by delivering bioactive molecules between cells. Although the role of fungal EVs in cross-kingdom RNA trafficking is well documented, whether and how they deliver pathogen-derived virulence effectors into host plants to facilitate infection remains largely unknown. Here, we report that the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani secretes vesicles enriched with the EV marker R. solani tetraspanin 2 (RsTsp2) and the effectors R. solani necrosis-promoting protein 8 (RsNP8) and R. solani serine protease (RsSerp). These proteins are upregulated during infection and are critical for fungal virulence. Notably, clathrin-coated vesicles accumulate at the fungal infection sites, and RsTsp2, RsSerp, and RsNP8 are detectable within these vesicles, indicating their entry into plant cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis. RsNP8 is translocated into the chloroplast, where it interacts with NP8-interacting chloroplast protein 1 (NICP1) in Arabidopsis. NICP1 contributes to plant immunity by regulating the reactive oxygen species burst during infection, whereas RsNP8 suppresses this immune response. Silencing of RsTsp2, RsSerp, and RsNP8 in R. solani attenuates sheath blight disease progression in rice. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that fungal EVs enable cross-kingdom delivery of effectors into plant cells, revealing a previously unrecognized mechanism by which eukaryotic pathogens invade host plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":19012,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Plant","volume":" ","pages":"1369-1389"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144649972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}