Research Highlights
Plant stomata patterning controlled by competition of two antagonistic peptides - Discovery of a new mechanism for plant peptide hormones -
Abstract:
Professor Keiko Torii (ITbM PI, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Professor at the University of Washington, Torii Lab) and her colleagues have revealed through methods in developmental genetics and peptide chemical biology that the patterning of plant stomata is controlled by two peptides, which work as antagonists and compete for the same receptor. Their new findings display the unique mechanism of plant peptide hormones. By integrating ITbM's synthetic chemistry techniques, it is envisaged that it may be possible to develop molecules that can control the growth and drought-resistance of plants. The outcome of this study was published online in Nature as an article.

Journal Information:
"Competitive binding of antagonistic peptides fine-tunes stomatal patterning" by Jin Suk Lee, Marketa Hnilova, Michal Maes, Ya-Chen Lisa Lin, Aarthi Putarjunan, Soon-Ki Han, Julian Avila, Keiko Torii is published online on June 18, 2015 in Nature.
Links:
- University of Washington "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition"
- Newswise "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition" (June 17, 2015)
- EurekAlert! "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition" (June 17, 2015)
- my Science "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition" (June 18, 2015)
- Phys.Org "Researchers identify mechanism plant cells use to receive messages from neighbors" (June 18, 2015)
- Science Daily "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition" (June 18, 2015)
- Technology.org "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition" (June 18, 2015)
- Deep stuff "Plants make big decisions with microscopic cellular competition" (June 18, 2015)
- News Medical Net "UW researchers identify how plants arrange cellular structures on their surface" (June 19, 2015)
- Nature News & Views "Plant science: Precision positioning with peptides" (June 17, 2015)
- Science Signaling "Competing for stomata" (June 30, 2015)
- Nature Chemical Biology "Fighting for space" (July 21, 2015)
Professor Keiko Torii: http://www.itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en_backup/members/k-torii/
Media Coverage and Related Links:
2015-06-18