What is it about?
Plants are threatened by toxin-producing fungi, which kill leaves and reduce crop yields. However, beneficial Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria can defend plants from these fungal pathogens using chemical signatures in their flagellar (appendages for swimming). Here we show that bacterial molecular signatures trigger the plant hormone phytosulfokine (PSK). PSK activates a specific defence that blocks fungal toxins, protecting plants from cell death.
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Photo by Corinna on Unsplash
Why is it important?
We reveal an innate plant machinery capable of blocking deleterious fungal toxins. By identifying the specific peptides that activate this defence, we have developed a translational framework for future use in protecting global crop yields from toxigenic fungal pathogens.
Perspectives
This article raises a compelling question: Why would a plant delegate the activation of its growth-associated toxin defences to external bacteria? I suspect this mechanism is intrinsically linked to the established functions of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) within the soil microbiome. Consequently, this work has provided the impetus for me to pivot my research toward soil microbiome dynamics.
Stephen Chivasa
Durham University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Phytosulfokine signalling blocks mycotoxin toxicity in Arabidopsis and mediates suppression of cell death activated by bacterial microbe‐associated molecular patterns, New Phytologist, December 2025, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/nph.70811.
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