Plant elicitor peptide induces endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins in Arabidopsis

Yanping Jing; Xiaojiang Zheng; Rouhallah Sharifi; Jian Chen

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1328250

Plant elicitor peptide induces endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins in Arabidopsis

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Dec 22:14:1328250. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1328250. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yanping Jing^#^{1

2

3}, Xiaojiang Zheng^#³, Rouhallah Sharifi⁴, Jian Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ International Genome Center, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
³ Chinese Education Ministry's Key Laboratory of Western Resources and Modern Biotechnology, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology Shaanxi Province, College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
⁴ Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

In plants, the regulation of plasma membrane (PM) dynamics through endocytosis plays a crucial role in responding to external environmental cues and defending against pathogens. The Arabidopsis plant elicitor peptides (Peps), originating from precursor proteins called PROPEPs, have been implicated in various aspects of plant immunity. This study delves into the signaling pathway of Peps, particularly Pep1, and its effect on PM protein internalization. Using PIN2 and BRI1 as PM markers, we demonstrated that Pep1 stimulates the endocytosis of these PM-localized proteins through clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). CLC2 and CLC3, two light chains of clathrin, are vital for Pep1-induced PIN2-GFP and BRI1-GFP internalization.The internalized PIN2 and BRI1 are subsequently transported to the vacuole via the trans-Golgi network/early endosome (TGN/EE) and prevacuolar compartment (PVC) pathways. Intriguingly, salicylic acid (SA) negatively regulates the effect of Pep1 on PM endocytosis. This study sheds light on a previously unknown signaling pathway by which danger peptides like Pep1 influence PM dynamics, contributing to a deeper understanding of the function of plant elicitor peptide.

Keywords: clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME); plant elicitor peptides (Peps); plant innate immunity; salicylic acid (SA); trans-Golgi network/early endosome (TGN/EE).

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by Nation Nature Science Foundation of China (31900223 to XZ, 32000201 to JC, and 32200258 to YJ), Basic Research Program of Shanxi Province (22JHQ061 to XZ), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20211319 to JC), Qin Chuangyuan Recruited High-level Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talents Project of Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Province (QCYRCXM-2022-223 to XZ), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, (2020M673626XB to YJ).