A conserved cell death pathway across kingdoms: ferroptosis in plants

DISTÉFANO MA, MARTIN , MV CÓRDOBA, JP, BELLIDO, AM, D'IPPÓLITO, S; COLMAN, S, SOTO, D,ROLDAN, JF, BARTOLI, CG; ZABALETA, EJ, FIOL, DF1; STOCKWELL, BR, DIXON S*; PAGNUSSAT, GC

Cold Spring Harbor, NY, EEUU

Conferencia; BANBURY CONFERENCE ON FERROPTOSIS; 2017

Cold Spring Harbor

In plants, regulated cell death plays critical roles during development and is essential for plant-specific responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent, oxidative, non-apoptotic form of cell death recently described in animal cells. In animal cells this process can be triggered by depletion of glutathione and accumulation of lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS). We investigated whether a similar process could be relevant to cell death in plants. Remarkably, heat-shock (HS)-induced regulated cell death (HS-RCD), but not reproductive or vascular development, was found to involve a ferroptosis-like cell death process. In root cells, HS triggered an iron-dependent cell death pathway that was characterized by depletion of glutathione and ascorbic acid, and accumulation of cytosolic and lipid ROS. These results suggest a physiological role for this lethal pathway in response to heat stress in Arabidopsis. The similarity of ferroptosis in animal cells and ferroptosis-like death in plants suggests that oxidative, iron-dependent cell death programs may be evolutionarily ancient.