The blue-light receptor CRY1 serves as a switch to balance photosynthesis and plant defense

Yuhan Hao; Zexian Zeng; Minhang Yuan; Hui Li; Shisong Guo; Yu Yang; Shushu Jiang; Eva Hawara; Jianxu Li; Peng Zhang; Jiawei Wang; Xiufang Xin; Wenbo Ma; Hongtao Liu

doi:10.1016/j.chom.2024.12.003

The blue-light receptor CRY1 serves as a switch to balance photosynthesis and plant defense

Cell Host Microbe. 2024 Dec 20:S1931-3128(24)00448-7. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.12.003. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yuhan Hao¹, Zexian Zeng², Minhang Yuan³, Hui Li⁴, Shisong Guo², Yu Yang², Shushu Jiang⁵, Eva Hawara⁵, Jianxu Li⁶, Peng Zhang³, Jiawei Wang³, Xiufang Xin³, Wenbo Ma⁷, Hongtao Liu⁸

Affiliations

¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China; School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, People's Republic of China.
² CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China; Shanghai College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China; College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People's Republic of China.
³ CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China.
⁴ The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
⁵ Institute of Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
⁶ CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics and Resources, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, CAS, Shanghai 201602, China.
⁷ The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK; Institute of Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology (SIPPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, People's Republic of China; College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39731915
DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.12.003

Abstract

Plant stomata open in response to blue light, allowing gas exchange and water transpiration. However, open stomata are potential entry points for pathogens. Whether plants can sense pathogens and mount defense responses upon stomatal opening and how blue-light cues are integrated to balance growth-defense trade-offs are poorly characterized. We show that the Arabidopsis blue-light photoreceptor CRYPTOCHROME 1 (CRY1) mediates various aspects of immunity, including pathogen-triggered stomatal closure as well as activation of plant immunity through a typical light-responsive protein LATE UPREGULATED IN RESPONSE TO HYALOPERONOSPORA PARASITICA (LURP1). LURP1 undergoes N-terminal palmitoylation in the presence of bacterial flagellin, prompting a change in subcellular localization from the cytoplasm to plasma membrane, where it enhances the activity of the receptor FLAGELLIN SENSING 2 (FLS2) to mediate plant defense. Collectively, these findings reveal that blue light regulates stomatal defense and highlight the dual functions of CRY1 in photosynthesis and immunity.

Keywords: FLS2; LURP1; blue-light photoreceptor; cryptochrome; palmitoylation; stomatal immunity.