Long-Distance Movement of mRNAs in Plants

Decoding Long-Distance Communication Under Mineral Stress: Advances in Vascular Signalling and Molecular Tools for Plant Resilience

Mineral nutrients are essential for plant growth, development and crop yield. Under mineral deficient conditions, plants rely on a sophisticated network of signalling pathways to coordinate their molecular, physiological, and morphological responses. Recent research has shown that long-distance signalling pathways play a pivotal role in maintaining mineral homeostasis and optimising growth. This review explores the intricate mechanisms of long-distance signalling under mineral deficiencies, emphasising its importance as a communication network between roots and shoots. Through the vascular tissues, plants transport an array of signalling molecules, including phytohormones, small RNAs, proteins, small peptides, and mobile mRNAs, to mediate systemic responses. Vascular tissues, particularly companion cells, are critical hubs for sensing and relaying mineral deficiency signals, leading to rapid changes in mineral uptake and optimised root morphology. We highlight the roles of key signalling molecules in regulating mineral acquisition and stress adaptation. Advances in molecular tools, including TRAP-Seq, heterografting, and single-cell RNA sequencing, have recently unveiled novel aspects of long-distance signalling and its regulatory components. These insights underscore the essential role of vascular-mediated communication in enabling plants to navigate heterogeneous mineral distribution environments and suggest new avenues for improving crop resilience and mineral use efficiency.

Movement of ACC oxidase 3 mRNA from seeds to flesh promotes fruit ripening in apple

Xenia, the phenomenon in which the pollen genotype directly affects the phenotypic characteristics of maternal tissues (i.e., fruit ripening), has applications in crop production and breeding. However, the underlying molecular mechanism has yet to be elucidated. Here, we investigated whether mobile mRNAs from the pollen affect the ripening and quality-related characteristics of the fruit using cross-pollination between distinct Malus domestica (apple) cultivars. We demonstrated that hundreds of mobile mRNAs originating from the seeds are delivered to the fruit. We found that the movement of one of these mRNAs, ACC oxidase 3 (MdACO3), is coordinated with fruit ripening. Salicylic acid treatment, which can cause plasmodesmal closure, blocks MdACO3 movement, indicating that MdACO3 transcripts may move through the plasmodesmata. To assess the role of mobile MdACO3 transcripts in apple fruit, we created MdACO3-GFP-expressing apple seeds using MdACO3-GFP-overexpressing pollen for pollination and showed that MdACO3 transcripts in the transgenic seeds move to the flesh, where they promote fruit ripening. Furthermore, we demonstrated that MdACO3 can be transported from the seeds to fruit in the fleshy-fruited species tomato and strawberry. These results underscore the potential of mobile mRNAs from seeds to influence fruit characteristics, providing an explanation for the xenia phenomenon. Notably, our findings highlight the feasibility of leveraging diverse pollen genomic resources, without resorting to genome editing, to improve fruit quality.

Studying plant vascular development using single-cell approaches

Vascular cells form a highly complex and heterogeneous tissue. Its composition, function, shape, and arrangement vary with the developmental stage and between organs and species. Understanding the transcriptional regulation underpinning this complexity thus requires a high-resolution technique that is capable of capturing rapid events during vascular cell formation. Single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (sc/snRNA-seq) approaches provide powerful tools to extract transcriptional information from these lowly abundant and dynamically changing cell types, which allows the reconstruction of developmental trajectories. Here, we summarize and reflect on recent studies using single-cell transcriptomics to study vascular cell types and discuss current and future implementations of sc/snRNA-seq approaches in the field of vascular development.

The Phloem as an Arena for Plant Pathogens

Although the phloem is a highly specialized tissue, certain pathogens, including phytoplasmas, spiroplasmas, and viruses, have evolved to access and live in this sequestered and protected environment, causing substantial economic harm. In particular, Candidatus Liberibacter spp. are devastating citrus in many parts of the world. Given that most phloem pathogens are vectored, they are not exposed to applied chemicals and are therefore difficult to control. Furthermore, pathogens use the phloem network to escape mounted defenses. Our review summarizes the current knowledge of phloem anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry relevant to phloem/pathogen interactions. We focus on aspects of anatomy specific to pathogen movement, including sieve plate structure and phloem-specific proteins. Phloem sampling techniques are discussed. Finally, pathogens that cause particular harm to the phloem of crop species are considered in detail.

Long-distance mobile mRNA CAX3 modulates iron uptake and zinc compartmentalization

Iron deficiency in plants can lead to excessive absorption of zinc; however, important details of this mechanism have yet to be elucidated. Here, we report that MdCAX3 mRNA is transported from the leaf to the root, and that MdCAX3 is then activated by MdCXIP1. Suppression of MdCAX3 expression leads to an increase in the root apoplastic pH, which is associated with the iron deficiency response. Notably, overexpression of MdCAX3 does not affect the apoplastic pH in a MdCXIP1 loss-of-function Malus baccata (Mb) mutant that has a deletion in the MdCXIP1 promoter. This deletion in Mb weakens MdCXIP1 expression. Co-expression of MdCAX3 and MdCXIP1 in Mb causes a decrease in the root apoplastic pH. Furthermore, suppressing MdCAX3 in Malus significantly reduces zinc vacuole compartmentalization. We also show that MdCAX3 activated by MdCXIP1 is not only involved in iron uptake, but also in regulating zinc detoxification by compartmentalizing zinc in vacuoles to avoid iron starvation-induced zinc toxicity. Thus, mobile MdCAX3 mRNA is involved in the regulation of iron and zinc homeostasis in response to iron starvation.

Signaling and transport processes related to the carnivorous lifestyle of plants living on nutrient-poor soil

In Eukaryotes, long-distance and rapid signal transmission is required in order to be able to react fast and flexibly to external stimuli. This long-distance signal transmission cannot take place by diffusion of signal molecules from the site of perception to the target tissue, as their speed is insufficient. Therefore, for adequate stimulus transmission, plants as well as animals make use of electrical signal transmission, as this can quickly cover long distances. This update summarises the most important advances in plant electrical signal transduction with a focus on the carnivorous Venus flytrap. It highlights the different types of electrical signals, examines their underlying ion fluxes and summarises the carnivorous processes downstream of the electrical signals.

RBP differentiation contributes to selective transmissibility of OPT3 mRNAs

Long-distance mobile mRNAs play key roles in gene regulatory networks that control plant development and stress tolerance. However, the mechanisms underlying species-specific delivery of mRNA still need to be elucidated. Here, the use of grafts involving highly heterozygous apple (Malus) genotypes allowed us to demonstrate that apple (Malus domestica) oligopeptide transporter3 (MdOPT3) mRNA can be transported over a long distance, from the leaf to the root, to regulate iron uptake; however, the mRNA of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) oligopeptide transporter 3 (AtOPT3), the MdOPT3 homolog from A. thaliana, does not move from shoot to root. Reciprocal heterologous expression of the two types of mRNAs showed that the immobile AtOPT3 became mobile and moved from the shoot to the root in two woody species, Malus and Populus, while the mobile MdOPT3 became immobile in two herbaceous species, A. thaliana and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the different transmissibility of OPT3 in A. thaliana and Malus might be caused by divergence in RNA-binding proteins between herbaceous and woody plants. This study provides insights into mechanisms underlying differences in mRNA mobility and validates the important physiological functions associated with this process.

A historical overview of long-distance signalling in plants

Be it a small herb or a large tree, intra- and intercellular communication and long-distance signalling between distant organs are crucial for every aspect of plant development. The vascular system, comprising xylem and phloem, acts as a major conduit for the transmission of long-distance signals in plants. In addition to expanding our knowledge of vascular development, numerous reports in the past two decades revealed that selective populations of RNAs, proteins, and phytohormones function as mobile signals. Many of these signals were shown to regulate diverse physiological processes, such as flowering, leaf and root development, nutrient acquisition, crop yield, and biotic/abiotic stress responses. In this review, we summarize the significant discoveries made in the past 25 years, with emphasis on key mobile signalling molecules (mRNAs, proteins including RNA-binding proteins, and small RNAs) that have revolutionized our understanding of how plants integrate various intrinsic and external cues in orchestrating growth and development. Additionally, we provide detailed insights on the emerging molecular mechanisms that might control the selective trafficking and delivery of phloem-mobile RNAs to target tissues. We also highlight the cross-kingdom movement of mobile signals during plant-parasite relationships. Considering the dynamic functions of these signals, their implications in crop improvement are also discussed.

Threat at One End of the Plant: What Travels to Inform the Other Parts?

Adaptation and response to environmental changes require dynamic and fast information distribution within the plant body. If one part of a plant is exposed to stress, attacked by other organisms or exposed to any other kind of threat, the information travels to neighboring organs and even neighboring plants and activates appropriate responses. The information flow is mediated by fast-traveling small metabolites, hormones, proteins/peptides, RNAs or volatiles. Electric and hydraulic waves also participate in signal propagation. The signaling molecules move from one cell to the neighboring cell, via the plasmodesmata, through the apoplast, within the vascular tissue or-as volatiles-through the air. A threat-specific response in a systemic tissue probably requires a combination of different traveling compounds. The propagating signals must travel over long distances and multiple barriers, and the signal intensity declines with increasing distance. This requires permanent amplification processes, feedback loops and cross-talks among the different traveling molecules and probably a short-term memory, to refresh the propagation process. Recent studies show that volatiles activate defense responses in systemic tissues but also play important roles in the maintenance of the propagation of traveling signals within the plant. The distal organs can respond immediately to the systemic signals or memorize the threat information and respond faster and stronger when they are exposed again to the same or even another threat. Transmission and storage of information is accompanied by loss of specificity about the threat that activated the process. I summarize our knowledge about the proposed long-distance traveling compounds and discuss their possible connections.

Unraveling the Roles of Vascular Proteins Using Proteomics

Vascular bundles play important roles in transporting nutrients, growth signals, amino acids, and proteins between aerial and underground tissues. In order to understand these sophisticated processes, a comprehensive analysis of the roles of the components located in the vascular tissues is required. A great deal of data has been obtained from proteomic analyses of vascular tissues in plants, which mainly aim to identify the proteins moving through the vascular tissues. Here, different aspects of the phloem and xylem proteins are reviewed, including their collection methods, and their main biological roles in growth, and biotic and abiotic stress responses. The study of vascular proteomics shows great potential to contribute to our understanding of the biological mechanisms related to development and defense in plants.

Long-Distance Movement of Mineral Deficiency-Responsive mRNAs in Nicotiana Benthamiana/Tomato Heterografts

Deficiencies in essential mineral nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and iron (Fe) severely limit plant growth and crop yield. It has been discovered that both the local sensing system in roots and shoot-to-root systemic signaling via the phloem are involved in the regulation of the adaptive alterations in roots, in response to mineral deficiency. mRNAs are one group of molecules with systemic signaling functions in response to intrinsic and environmental cues; however, the importance of shoot-to-root mobile mRNAs stimulated by low mineral levels is not fully understood. In this study, we established a Nicotiana benthamiana/tomato heterograft system to identify shoot-to-root mobile mRNAs that are produced in response to low N, P or Fe. Multiple long-distance mobile mRNAs were identified to be associated with low mineral levels and a few of them may play important roles in hormonal metabolism and root architecture alteration. A comparison of the mobile mRNAs from our study with those identified from previous studies showed that very few transcripts are conserved among different species.