Light stress articles from across Nature Portfolio

Upon stress, plants activate a signaling cascade leading to resistance or stress adaptation. Here, Ang & Saju et al. use sensor multiplexing to elucidate the interplay between H₂O₂ and SA signaling as plants mount stress-specific defense responses.

Pexophagy plays a pivotal role in the selective removal of ROS-generating peroxisomes, which protects plants from oxidative damage during photosynthesis under high-intensity light.

Anderson, Mattoon et al. exposed the C₄ model plant green foxtail Setaria viridis to four-hour periods of high light or high temperature and observed transcriptomic, photosynthetic, and ultrastructural changes. Both treatments caused a comparable reduction in photosynthetic efficiency, but the authors identified important differences in key pathways and differential responses in the mesophyll and bundle sheath cells in response to these two treatments.

Ascorbate is synthesized in mitochondria but needed in chloroplasts. Identification of a transporter bridging the chloroplast envelope membranes that separate cell cytoplasm from chloroplast stroma reveals a connection between ascorbate transport and cellular redox homeostasis.