Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by NADPH oxidases (NOXs) impacts many processes in animals and plants, and many plant receptor pathways involve rapid, NOX-dependent increases of ROS. Yet, their general reactivity has made it challenging to pinpoint the precise role and immediate molecular action of ROS. A well-understood ROS action in plants is to provide the co-substrate for lignin peroxidases in the cell wall. Lignin can be deposited with exquisite spatial control, but the underlying mechanisms have remained elusive. Here, we establish a kinase signaling relay that exerts direct, spatial control over ROS production and lignification within the cell wall. We show that polar localization of a single kinase component is crucial for pathway function. Our data indicate that an intersection of more broadly localized components allows for micrometer-scale precision of lignification and that this system is triggered through initiation of ROS production as a critical peroxidase co-substrate.
Keywords: Casparian strips; extracellular diffusion barriers; lignin; localized ROS production; polarized signaling.
© 2020 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.