Congratulations to Peter, whose paper “Sensing and signaling of oxidative stress in chloroplasts by inactivation of the SAL1 phosphoadenosine phosphatase” was published in PNAS [link]. This work was done with a number of collaborators, including the Pogson group at the ANU Research School of Biology.
When adverse conditions like drought cause oxidative stress in plant chloroplasts, a chemical messenger originating from the chloroplast induces a stress response in the plant. Our work shows how oxidative stress is detected and converted to this chemical stress signal: oxidative stress inactivates the enzyme that eliminates the stress signal, allowing it to accumulate.
Pete and Kai explain the potential applications for drought resistance in crops:
JACKSON RESEARCH GROUP 