Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)

Research article2020Peer reviewedOpen access

The CEP5 Peptide Promotes Abiotic Stress Tolerance, As Revealed by Quantitative Proteomics, and Attenuates the AUX/IAA Equilibrium in Arabidopsis

Smith, Stephanie; Zhu, Shanshuo; Joos, Lisa; Roberts, Ianto; Nikonorova, Natalia; Vu, Lam Dai; Stes, Elisabeth; Cho, Hyunwoo; Larrieu, Antoine; Xuan, Wei; Goodall, Benjamin; van de Cotte, Brigitte; Waite, Jessic Marie; Rigal, Adeline; Harborough, Sigurd Ramans; Persiau, Geert; Vanneste, Steffen; Kirschner, Gwendolyn K.; Vandermarliere, Elien; Martens, Lennart;
Show more authors

Abstract

Peptides derived from non-functional precursors play important roles in various developmental processes, but also in (a)biotic stress signaling. Our (phospho)proteome-wide analyses of C-TERMINALLY ENCODED PEPTIDE 5 (CEP5)-mediated changes revealed an impact on abiotic stress-related processes. Drought has a dramatic impact on plant growth, development and reproduction, and the plant hormone auxin plays a role in drought responses. Our genetic, physiological, biochemical, and pharmacological results demonstrated that CEP5-mediated signaling is relevant for osmotic and drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis, and that CEP5 specifically counteracts auxin effects. Specifically, we found that CEP5 signaling stabi-lizes AUX/IAA transcriptional repressors, suggesting the existence of a novel peptide-dependent control mechanism that tunes auxin signaling. These observations align with the recently described role of AUX/IAAs in stress tolerance and provide a novel role for CEP5 in osmotic and drought stress tolerance.

Published in

Molecular and Cellular Proteomics
2020, Volume: 19, number: 8, pages: 1248-1262