How Extracellular Reactive Oxygen Species Reach Their Intracellular Targets in Plants.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) serve as secondary messengers that regulate various developmental and signal transduction processes, with ROS primarily generated by NADPH OXIDASEs (referred to as RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE HOMOLOGs [RBOHs] in plants). However, the types and locations of ROS produced by RBOHs are different from those expected to mediate intracellular signaling. RBOHs produce O2•- rather than H2O2 which is relatively long-lived and able to diffuse through membranes, and this production occurs outside the cell instead of in the cytoplasm, where signaling cascades occur. A widely accepted model explaining this discrepancy proposes that RBOH-produced extracellular O2•- is converted to H2O2 by superoxide dismutase and then imported by aquaporins to reach its cytoplasmic targets. However, this model does not explain how the specificity of ROS targeting is ensured while minimizing unnecessary damage during the bulk translocation of extracellular ROS (eROS). An increasing number of studies have provided clues about eROS action mechanisms, revealing various mechanisms for eROS perception in the apoplast, crosstalk between eROS and reactive nitrogen species, and the contribution of intracellular organelles to cytoplasmic ROS bursts. In this review, we summarize these recent advances, highlight the mechanisms underlying eROS action, and provide an overview of the routes by which eROS-induced changes reach the intracellular space.

Recent Advances in Understanding the Roles of Pectin as an Active Participant in Plant Signaling Networks.

Pectin is an abundant cell wall polysaccharide with essential roles in various biological processes. The structural diversity of pectins, along with the numerous combinations of the enzymes responsible for pectin biosynthesis and modification, plays key roles in ensuring the specificity and plasticity of cell wall remodeling in different cell types and under different environmental conditions. This review focuses on recent progress in understanding various aspects of pectin, from its biosynthetic and modification processes to its biological roles in different cell types. In particular, we describe recent findings that cell wall modifications serve not only as final outputs of internally determined pathways, but also as key components of intercellular communication, with pectin as a major contributor to this process. The comprehensive view of the diverse roles of pectin presented here provides an important basis for understanding how cell wall-enclosed plant cells develop, differentiate, and interact.

Development of SERS substrate using phage-based magnetic template for triplex assay in sepsis diagnosis.

Development of a new substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is one area of interest for the improvement of SERS performance. Herein, we introduce a new method for developing new mesoporous SERS substrates using M13 phages that display cysteine-rich peptides on the pVIII major units, which is an alternative for thiol donor using chemical modifications. Together with the SERS substrate development, and the use of the SERS technique for sepsis diagnostics is a new approach in clinical settings. The substrates were characterized and magnetized with magnetic immuno colloids made of gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles and specific antibodies. Conventionally, the SERS-tags are prepared by using gold nanoparticles and are modified with Raman dyes to immobilize specific antibodies to capture the biomarkers in the serum samples. However, in this method the SERS-tags are bound to the mesoporous substrate via antibody/antigen interactions to form clusters or layer-by-layer assemblies of SERS-tags for Raman signal enhancement. The SERS spectra showed distinct peaks for tags corresponding to three typical sepsis-specific biomarkers for diagnostics with the limit of detection values of 27 pM, 103 pM, and 78 pM for C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), and soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1), respectively. With such an approach, SERS can be used for clinical purposes and can be improved by phage display modification rather than chemical alternatives.