Functions and interactions of important sulfur-containing metabolites in plant development and stress responses.
Wang Z, Chen F, Xu Y, Zang Y, Chen W
Plant Signaling
PubMedThe broccoli and kale on your plate owe their cancer-fighting compounds and their ability to survive drought or pest attack to the same sulfur chemistry this research is unraveling — better understanding it means tastier, hardier vegetables grown with fewer pesticides.
Sulfur isn't just a soil nutrient — plants transform it into a whole toolkit of molecules that act like tiny messengers and bodyguards inside their cells. One of these molecules is actually a gas the plant makes itself, which talks to other protective compounds to coordinate the plant's response to heat, drought, or insect attack. Scientists are now piecing together exactly how these molecules talk to each other, which could help us grow crops that are tougher and more nutritious.
Key Findings
Plants produce at least four major sulfur-containing compound classes — hydrogen sulfide gas, the amino acid cysteine, the antioxidant glutathione, and glucosinolates (the pungent compounds in mustard family plants) — all linked through shared biosynthetic pathways.
Hydrogen sulfide acts as a signaling gas that directly interacts with cysteine, glutathione, and glucosinolates, forming a crosstalk network that fine-tunes plant responses to oxidative stress and environmental stimuli.
These sulfur metabolites interface with plant hormones and growth regulators to coordinate both normal development and stress adaptation, suggesting that manipulating sulfur metabolism could simultaneously improve crop yield, stress tolerance, and nutritional quality.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Plants use sulfur to build a suite of powerful molecules — including a gas, an antioxidant, and defense compounds — that work together to help plants grow and survive stress. This review maps out how these molecules interact with each other and with plant hormones, offering a roadmap for breeding more resilient crops.
Abstract Preview
Sulfur (S), an essential macroelement, plays important roles in plant numerous physiological processes. Through sulfur assimilation pathways, plants biosynthesize various S-containing compounds, in...
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