Interactions of importers in long-distance transmission of wound-induced jasmonate

Mobile wound signals transmitted from local damaged to distal undamaged sites induce upsurge of jasmonic acid (JA) and activation of core JA signaling, priming the whole plant for broad-spectrum resistance/immunity against future challenges. We recently characterized two jasmonate importers AtJAT3 and AtJAT4 in Arabidopsis thaliana jasmonate transporter (JAT) family that cooperatively regulate the transmission of JA from leaf-to-leaf in this wound-induced systemic response/resistance (WSR). As half-molecule ATP-binding cassette transporters, AtJAT3 and AtJAT4 need to form homodimers or/and heterodimer to function. Here we show interactions in AtJAT3-AtJAT3, AtJAT3-AtJAT4, and AtJAT4-AtJAT4 pairs by both yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescent complementation assays. Furthermore, we propose a model in which the homo-/hetero-dimers of AtJAT3/AtJAT4 mediated cell-cell transport of JA drives long-distance transmission of JA signal in a self-propagation mode and give perspectives on future works to reinforce this model.