Oxidative Signaling in Plants

SEB ANNUAL CONFERENCE, FLORENCE- 2026, CELL BIOLOGY ABSTRACT

Reactive oxygen species are crucial signalling molecules that regulate, plant growth development and defence. With a focus on the complex redox networks that regulate plant responses to the environment, I will discuss how ROS regulate protein and enzyme functions through the oxidation of protein thiol groups and associated redox post-translational modifications. Little is known about the ability of the nucleus to generate ROS and how nuclear ROS accumulation is regulated. Using catalase as an example, I will discuss how redox-regulated phase separation, forming membrane-less condensates through protein–protein interactions, facilitates catalase relocation to the nucleus. Using redox-proteomics approaches, we have studied how the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide during metabolism in Arabidopsis mutants lacking the major form of catalase (cat2) influences the oxidation degree of protein Cys residues.