Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 27, 2026

Imaging Spatial Reorganization of a MAPK Signaling Pathway Using the Tobacco Transient Expression System
Published on: March 20, 2016
Chloroplast Activity and 3'phosphadenosine 5'phosphate Signaling Regulate Programmed Cell Death in Arabidopsis
Quentin Bruggeman1, Christelle Mazubert1, Florence Prunier1
1Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), UMR 9213/UMR1403, CNRS, INRA, Université Paris-Sud, Université d'Evry, Université Paris-Diderot, Sorbonne Paris-Cité, Bâtiment 630, 91405 Orsay, France (Q.B., C.M., F.P., M.D., M.B., C.B., C.R.);Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, Unité Propre de Recherche 2357 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 12 rue du Général Zimmer, 67084 Strasbourg cedex, France (R.L.);Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia (K.X.C., S.Y.P., B.J.P.);Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives Saclay, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Sud, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France (A.K.-L.); and Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Center for Desert Agriculture, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (M.B.).
Abstract:
Programmed cell death (PCD) is a crucial process both for plant development and responses to biotic and abiotic stress. There is accumulating evidence that chloroplasts may play a central role during plant PCD as for mitochondria in animal cells, but it is still unclear whether they participate in PCD onset, execution, or both. To tackle this question, we have analyzed the contribution of chloroplast function to the cell death phenotype of the myoinositol phosphate synthase1 (mips1) mutant that forms spontaneous lesions in a light-dependent manner. We show that photosynthetically active chloroplasts are required for PCD to occur in mips1, but this process is independent of the redox state of the chloroplast. Systematic genetic analyses with retrograde signaling mutants reveal that 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphate, a chloroplast retrograde signal that modulates nuclear gene expression in response to stress, can inhibit cell death and compromises plant innate immunity via inhibition of the RNA-processing 5'-3' exoribonucleases. Our results provide evidence for the role of chloroplast-derived signal and RNA metabolism in the control of cell death and biotic stress response.
Related Concept Videos
Cell Signaling in Plants
Overview of Cell Death
Cell death was observed in the early 19th century, but there was no experimental evidence to prove it. In 1842, Carl Vogt first discovered cell death in a metamorphic toad; however, it was not termed ‘cell death.’ Scientists discovered different cell death pathways only in the...
Autophagic Cell Death
Autophagy and Apoptosis
Autophagy can activate apoptosis. In normal conditions, the autophagy activating protein Beclin-1 and...
Apoptosis
The Extrinsic Apoptotic Pathway
The Intrinsic Apoptotic Pathway

