New research linking fungal elicitors and root hair growth published in Plant, Cell & Environment

Although angiosperm plants generally react to immunity elicitors like chitin or chitosan by the cell wall callose deposition, this response in particular cell types, especially upon chitosan treatment, is not fully understood. In this paper we showed that the growing root hairs (RHs) of Arabidopsis can respond to a mild (0.001%) chitosan treatment by the callose deposition and by a deceleration of the RH growth. Our results thus reveal the unexpected aspects of the RH growth-defence trade-off, and set the basis for possible future modifications of the balanced resistance and fitness.

Drs M, Krupař P, Škrabálková E, Haluška S, Müller K, Potocká A, Brejšková L, Serrano N, Voxeur A, Vernhettes S, Ortmannová J, Caldarescu G, Fendrych M, Potocký M, Žárský V, Pečenková T* (2024) Chitosan stimulates root hair callose deposition and inhibits root hair growth, PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT, in press, doi:10.1111/pce.15111.