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ROS signalling

H2O2 sensing in immunity

Nature Plants volume 8, pages 1140–1141 (2022)Cite this article

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Intracellular H2O2 has emerged as a central player in signalling and stress acclimation, but how specificity is achieved remains elusive. Cytosolic peroxiredoxins play a decisive role as they sense H2O2 and transmit the oxidation signal through the formation of disulfide bridges, leading to stomatal closure that reduces pathogen entry.

Biological hallmarks of both abiotic and biotic stresses and many developmental switches are transient or enduring increases in H2O2. However, the resting cellular H2O2 concentrations are in the nanomolar range and even under moderate stresses, the H2O2 amounts stay low, too low to efficiently oxidize thiols of most target proteins. In addition, direct oxidation of protein thiols would not enable specificity of signalling. The most sensitive targets for H2O2-dependent oxidation are thiol peroxidases of the peroxiredoxin (PRX) or glutathione peroxidase (GPX) families1. The deprotonated peroxidatic thiol of these thiol peroxidases has the highest affinity to H2O2 among all proteins in the cell, and acts as a primary sink. This peculiar characteristic makes these peroxidases ideal candidates to be primary H2O2 sensors1. In this issue of Nature Plants, Bi et al.2 identify the cytosolic peroxiredoxin PRXIIB as a crucial redox sensor of Arabidopsis thaliana in the first defence response to infection with the model pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae Pst DC3000. Upon pathogen attack, leaf stomata close to limit pathogen entry into the leaf intercellular space. Stomatal closure employs abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and independent pathways3.

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Fig. 1: The thiol peroxidase PRXII functions as regulator of OST1-dependent stomatal closure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants, Faculty of Biology, CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Karl-Josef Dietz & Lara Vogelsang

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  1. Karl-Josef Dietz
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  2. Lara Vogelsang
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Correspondence to Karl-Josef Dietz.

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Dietz, KJ., Vogelsang, L. H2O2 sensing in immunity. Nat. Plants 8, 1140–1141 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01256-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01256-1

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