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Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Robotic Sensing and Stimuli Provision for Guided Plant Growth
Published on: July 1, 2019
GhZAT11 triggers wound-activated bud growth by accelerating sugar transport and cell division
Jingru Li1, Chang Liu1, Jingwei Wei1
1Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding (MOE), Beijing Key Laboratory of Development and Quality Control of Ornamental Crops, Department of Ornamental Horticulture, College of Horticulture, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Plants have evolved intricate mechanisms to adapt to tissue damage from environmental and biological factors, enhancing survival strategies. However, the link and mechanisms between wounding and dormancy traits remain unclear. Here we discovered that wounding dramatically accelerates bud-growth transition (BGT) in gladiolus and other horticultural geophytes, including Allium sativum and Allium cepa. Wounding induced jasmonic acid (JA) accumulation in gladiolus corms, promoting sucrose transport to dormant buds via the apoplastic pathway, supplying energy for cell division and facilitating BGT. Furthermore, we characterized a zinc finger transcription factor, ZINC FINGER OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA 11 (GhZAT11), responsive to both wounding and JA. GhZAT11 directly upregulated SUCROSE TRANSPORTER4 (GhSUT4) and CYCLIN D2;1 (GhCYCD2;1), enhancing sucrose transport and cell division in the shoot apical meristem. In addition, ZAT11, SUT4 and CYCD2;1 can act as markers for wound-induced BGT in geophytes. Our findings reveal that injuries trigger BGT via JA-regulated sucrose transport and cell division, offering novel insights into JA's role in wound-induced responses.
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