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

MARTIN, MARÍA VICTORIA

Mendoza

Seminario; Seminario; 2017

IBAM-CONICET

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