The Innovation Team of Soil-Plant Interactions of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has revealed the origin and evolution of salicylic acid signaling and synthesis pathways in green plants, as well as the important role of salicylic acid in plant terrestrialization.

The research results were published in "Molecular Plant" under the title "The origin and evolution of salicylic acid signaling and biosynthesis in plants".

The phytohormone salicylic acid plays a crucial role in plant responses to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses in terrestrial environments. Salicylic acid also plays a very important role in the interaction between plants and soil. Salicylic acid is a ubiquitous plant root exudate and can maintain a certain concentration in the soil. Its presence in soil plays an important role in plant root growth, composition of rhizosphere microbial community and response to soil biotic/abiotic stress. However, much remains unknown about the origin and evolution of key proteins involved in salicylic acid synthesis and signaling in plants, including whether or not salicylic acid is ubiquitous in green plants and its role in plant terrestrialization.

The team published an article on "The Plant Cell" in 2017, analyzing the pathway of salicylic acid synthesis in rice roots and clarifying the mechanism by which salicylic acid regulates root development. On this basis, this study further systematically revealed the origin and evolution of salicylic acid synthesis and signaling pathways in green plants. In addition, salicylic acid, widely present in green plants, plays an important role in their adaptation to complex terrestrial soils and high light intensity environments. This achievement lays an important foundation for further research on the role of salicylic acid in the interaction between plants and soil.

Post-doctorates Xianqing Jia and Long Wang of the IARRP are the co-first authors of the paper, and researcher Keke Yi and associate researcher Lei Xu are its co-corresponding authors. Related work has been supported by the National Key Research and Development Program, the Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Youth Innovation Project and Innovation Project.

Paper link:

https://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/fulltext/S1674-2052(22)00437-3 

Schematic diagram of the origin and evolution of salicylic acid signaling and synthesis pathways in green plants [Photo/IARRP]