An iron dependent death pathway involved in the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses

AYELEN M. DISTÉFANO; MARÍA VICTORIA MARTIN; SCOTT DIXON; ANDRES M. BELLIDO; DÉBORA SOTO; JUAN PABLO CÓRDOBA; SEBASTIÁN D'IPPOLITO; SILVANA COLMAN; CARLOS BARTOLI; DIEGO F. FIOL; EDUARDO J. ZABALETA; BRENT STOCKWELL; GABRIELA C. PAGNUSSAT

ROSARIO

Congreso; L SAIB; 2014

In plants, regulated cell death plays critical roles during several developmental processes and plant-specific responses to external stimuli. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying plant cell death remain unclear. While some pathways appear to be conserved in animal and plant cells, others are specific. In this work, we examined whether an iron-dependent, oxidative processes similar to the recently described to occur during ferroptosis in animal cells, could be relevant to plant cell death during development or following abiotic or biotic stresses. Remarkably, although ferroptosis seems not involved in megasporogenesis, embryogenesis or root development, it appears to be implicated in the regulated cell death that follows heat shock stress (HS-RCD) and in the HR response. Thus, this oxidative iron-dependent type of cell death emerges as a new mechanism through which plants might respond to specific environmental signals. Our results show that a group of morphological, biochemical and genetic features that seem to be specific for this particular lethal pathway are present in Arabidopsis roots in response to HS and suggest a physiological role for ferroptosis in plants restricting pathogen infection.