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Revolution in plant growth: Researchers decipher new growth mechanism!
Research at the University of Freiburg discovers a new mechanism for the dynamic regulation of plant growth using PILS proteins.
Revolution in plant growth: Researchers decipher new growth mechanism!
A research team from University of Freiburg under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kleine-Vehn has discovered a novel mechanism for adapting plant growth to changing environmental conditions. This mechanism, which affects dynamic growth regulation in plants, was published on September 23, 2025 in the journalScience Advancespublished. It offers new insights into how plants can flexibly control their growth to adapt to different conditions.
The key to this mechanism lies in a cellular degradation machinery that determines whether the plant hormone auxin is available in the cell. Auxin is already known to regulate tissue growth and ensure adaptations, for example shoot curvature towards light or root growth in the soil. The newly discovered PILS proteins play a central role and act like gatekeepers that control the flow of auxin within the cell. They decide whether auxin becomes active in the cell nucleus or not.
Regulation by PILS proteins
The number of PILS proteins is regulated by the ERAD (endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation) machinery. When auxin is required, the PILS proteins are broken down, resulting in a change in the plant's growth mode. In stable environmental conditions, however, the PILS proteins remain in the cell, which slows down the hormonal response. This mechanism enables plants to adapt to a wide range of environmental factors and to better overcome their challenges.
The findings can potentially help make plants more resilient to stress and climate changes. It is expected that better understanding of this organizational system will lead to new approaches to breeding plants that can survive under extreme conditions. Researchers of the BOKU University and the University of Freiburg have dealt intensively with this topic in order to explore the central connections.
The study was also funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). An interesting aspect of the research shows that precise control of auxin flow via the number of PILS proteins is beneficial for plant growth and adaptability. The results could have a significant impact on future plant research and agriculture.