2026/02/24 by Hongze Wang, Xiuming Li, Keran Zhai +13 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity #Polysaccharides and Plant Cell Walls #Transgenic Plants and Applications
paper · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2026.01.027
openalex publication_date 2026/02/24 · openalex created_date 2026/02/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Immune activation in plants triggers extracellular alkalinization, presumably by inhibiting plasma membrane H + -ATPases. The precise role and underlying mechanisms of this process remain poorly understood. Here, we show that Pseudomonas syringae bacteria induce apoplastic alkalinization not only at the site of infection but also in neighboring distal tissues to prime defenses and disease resistance in Arabidopsis . We show that several calcium-dependent protein kinases phosphorylate Ser899 of two major autoinhibited H + -ATPases to dampen their activity, leading to alkalinization. The distal alkalinization is accompanied by the transcriptional activation of phytocytokines, including plant elicitor peptides, serine-rich endogenous peptides, and their receptors. We show that these phytocytokines promote distal alkalinization and disease resistance, whereas the apoplastic alkalinization sensitizes the phytocytokine perception that further induces phytocytokine genes. Our study suggests that apoplastic alkalinization and phytocytokine gene expression mutually potentiate and act as a combined signal that propagates in local-distal communication and disease resistance priming.