How immunity is impacted by fatty acid metabolism in plants: Study

WASHINGTON: Would you be surprised to learn that a salad also includes fatty acids? Although fatty acids, lipids, and fats may seem unappealing, they are essential to human life and to the plants we eat.

They influence specific proteins in a way that controls how plants grow.

Plant fatty acids (FAs) are components of cell membrane structure and, among other things, the building blocks of certain hormones.

Acyl carrier proteins (ACPs), which are present in all branches of life and support and lengthen the expanding FA chains, stabilise fatty acids during synthesis.

By establishing a clear connection between FA biosynthesis and the plant defence system, a recent work by Zhenzhen Zhao (of The Ohio State University) and colleagues adds a new perspective to the role of FA biosynthesis in plants.

The results of the study, which were reported in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI), showed that Arabidopsis plants lacking the Acyl Carrier Protein 1 (ACP1) were more resistant to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, demonstrating the crucial role that FA metabolism plays in plant immunity.

According to the corresponding author Ye Xia, "Our research revealed the potential function of ACP1 in plant defence across commercially significant crops and demonstrated a direct relationship between FA metabolism and plant immunity."

According to the study, ACP1 is necessary for preserving the homeostasis of hormones that influence a range of plant stress responses. ACP1 can now influence a variety of biotic and abiotic stressors due to its impact on hormone signalling, which opens up a wealth of potential applications.

Since ACP1 performs a role in plant resistance that is different from that of its near family member, ACP4, this discovery also highlights the significance of investigating individual members of gene families that may have separate functions.

There are currently many economically significant crops that have ACP1 homologs. Future disease-resistant cultivars that can tolerate bacterial and other pathogen infections could be made by genetically modifying these significant crops to control the expression of ACP1.