Retrograde Signaling: Understanding the Communication between Organelles

Abstract

Understanding how cell organelles and compartments communicate with each other has always been an important field of knowledge widely explored by many researchers. However, despite years of investigations, one point—and perhaps the only point that many agree on—is that our knowledge about cellular-signaling pathways still requires expanding. Chloroplasts and mitochondria (because of their primary functions in energy conversion) are important cellular sensors of environmental fluctuations and feedback they provide back to the nucleus is important for acclimatory responses. Under stressful conditions, it is important to manage cellular resources more efficiently in order to maintain a proper balance between development, growth and stress responses. For example, it can be achieved through regulation of nuclear and organellar gene expression. If plants are unable to adapt to stressful conditions, they will be unable to efficiently produce energy for growth and development—and ultimately die. In this review, we show the importance of retrograde signaling in stress responses, including the induction of cell death and in organelle biogenesis. The complexity of these pathways demonstrates how challenging it is to expand the existing knowledge. However, understanding this sophisticated communication may be important to develop new strategies of how to improve adaptability of plants in rapidly changing environments.

The Effect of Plasma Activated Water on Maize (Zea mays L.) under Arsenic Stress

“…A common plant reaction to As stress is an overproduction of various reactive oxygen species (ROS) within the plant body [27] triggering antioxidant systems [28]. H 2 O 2 plays a central role in stress signal transduction [27,29]; a delicate balance between its production and scavenging must be maintained in the plant cells. Too high level of ROS causes damage, especially to cell macromolecules, and this leads to cell death [30].…”

“…Too high level of ROS causes damage, especially to cell macromolecules, and this leads to cell death [30]. On the other side, the non-toxic H 2 O 2 concentration, acting as signal molecules, activate multiple plant cell responses, especially via MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinases) cascades, leading to ROS detoxification and surviving stress situation [29]. Systems joined with ROS in terms of their metabolism are either enzymatic or non-enzymatic.…”

Insights into Plant Programmed Cell Death Induced by Heavy Metals—Discovering a Terra Incognita

“…At low concentration it induces EXECUTER1-mediated PCD regulated by LSD1/LOL1. At high concentrations singlet oxygen oxidizes β-carotene to β-cyclocitral which induces singlet oxygen-related genes via METHYLENE BLUE SENSITIVITY1 leading to PCD [ 63 ].…”

Reactive oxygen species and organellar signaling

“…2). In the nucleus, ANAC013 and ANAC017 regulate the expression of mitochondrial dysfunction stimulon (MDS) genes, which encode, among others, AOX1a that is crucial for mitochondrial ROS detoxification [reviewed in Waszczak et al (2018); Dourmap et al (2020); Mielecki et al (2020); Wang et al (2020b)]. RCD1 is a redox-sensitive WWE domain-containing nuclear protein.…”