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Injured plants use gaseous cues to initiate repair of their outer layers

The periderm layers of plants form an outer protective barrier. If the periderm is broken, movement of the gases ethylene and oxygen triggers a healing process.
By
  1. Cui-Cui Yin

    1. Cui-Cui Yin is in the State Key Lab of Seed Innovation, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

  2. Jin-Song Zhang

    1. Jin-Song Zhang is in the State Key Lab of Seed Innovation, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China, and at the College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049.

Our skin protects us from the environment, and if skin is hurt, the wound site can be healed. Many plants have their own type of barrier, named periderm, to provide a similar type of protection. The outermost layer of periderm is commonly known as cork, a material that humans have been using for thousands of years. Writing in Nature, Iida et al.1 help to solve a mystery about how periderm is repaired after injury.

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Nature 644, 345-346 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02049-0

References

  1. Iida, H. et al. Nature 644, 483–489 (2025).

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  2. Binder, B. M. J. Biol. Chem. 295, 7710–7725 (2020).

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  3. Li, S. et al. Plant Cell Environ. 41, 134–147 (2018).

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  4. Zhao, H., Yin, C. C., Ma, B., Chen, S.-Y. & Zhang, J. S. J. Integr. Plant Biol. 63, 102–125 (2021).

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  5. Li, X.-K. et al. Plant Hormones 1, e009 (2025).

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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