Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis
Abstract When exposed to stress, plants reduce growth while activating defense mechanisms—a behaviour proposed to help reallocate resources and meet the energy demands required for survival. Here, we have challenged this view by mutating the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SMR1 to reverse the grow...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60733-1 |
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| author | Antonio Serrano-Mislata Jorge Hernández-García Carlos de Ollas Noel Blanco-Touriñán Silvia Jurado-García Cristina Úrbez Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas Robert Sablowski David Alabadí Miguel A. Blázquez |
| author_facet | Antonio Serrano-Mislata Jorge Hernández-García Carlos de Ollas Noel Blanco-Touriñán Silvia Jurado-García Cristina Úrbez Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas Robert Sablowski David Alabadí Miguel A. Blázquez |
| author_sort | Antonio Serrano-Mislata |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract When exposed to stress, plants reduce growth while activating defense mechanisms—a behaviour proposed to help reallocate resources and meet the energy demands required for survival. Here, we have challenged this view by mutating the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SMR1 to reverse the growth arrest imposed by high DELLA levels. These plants continue growing under limited water availability but maintain the same oxidative stress tolerance and survival rates as the parental line that halted growth. However, shoot and root meristematic cells that keep dividing under drought or genotoxic stress accumulate DNA damage, frequently leading to cell death. Since the DNA lesions are observed in the apical stem cells that give rise to all plant organs, including flowers, we propose that systemic growth arrest acts as a defense strategy that plants employ not only to maximize individual fitness, but also to ensure the accurate transmission of genetic information to their progeny. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-898dc35655e24792b5aee05e9bfb487e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-898dc35655e24792b5aee05e9bfb487e2025-08-20T03:37:37ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111210.1038/s41467-025-60733-1Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in ArabidopsisAntonio Serrano-Mislata0Jorge Hernández-García1Carlos de Ollas2Noel Blanco-Touriñán3Silvia Jurado-García4Cristina Úrbez5Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas6Robert Sablowski7David Alabadí8Miguel A. Blázquez9Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaDepartament de Biologia, Bioquímica i Ciències Naturals, Universitat Jaume IInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaDepartament de Biologia, Bioquímica i Ciències Naturals, Universitat Jaume ICell and Developmental Biology, John Innes CentreInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaInstituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaAbstract When exposed to stress, plants reduce growth while activating defense mechanisms—a behaviour proposed to help reallocate resources and meet the energy demands required for survival. Here, we have challenged this view by mutating the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SMR1 to reverse the growth arrest imposed by high DELLA levels. These plants continue growing under limited water availability but maintain the same oxidative stress tolerance and survival rates as the parental line that halted growth. However, shoot and root meristematic cells that keep dividing under drought or genotoxic stress accumulate DNA damage, frequently leading to cell death. Since the DNA lesions are observed in the apical stem cells that give rise to all plant organs, including flowers, we propose that systemic growth arrest acts as a defense strategy that plants employ not only to maximize individual fitness, but also to ensure the accurate transmission of genetic information to their progeny.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60733-1 |
| spellingShingle | Antonio Serrano-Mislata Jorge Hernández-García Carlos de Ollas Noel Blanco-Touriñán Silvia Jurado-García Cristina Úrbez Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas Robert Sablowski David Alabadí Miguel A. Blázquez Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis Nature Communications |
| title | Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis |
| title_full | Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis |
| title_fullStr | Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis |
| title_short | Growth arrest is a DNA damage protection strategy in Arabidopsis |
| title_sort | growth arrest is a dna damage protection strategy in arabidopsis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60733-1 |
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