Non-invasive imaging of defence responses in plants
Jasmonic and salicylic acids are key hormones involved in plant responses to pests and pathogens. Existing fluorescence-based approaches to imaging plant defence hormones are constrained by the need for external illumination and by autofluorescence of plant tissues, while luminescence-based ones require exogenous substrates. Here, we use jasmonate- and salicylate-responsive promoters to engineer autoluminescent plants that report hormone signalling activity with up to a 53-fold contrast. Using consumer-grade cameras, we image reporter Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana plants throughout normal development and in response to pest and pathogen attacks, visualising local and systemic responses. Because the luminescence is self-sustained, these reporters enable non-invasive, substrate-free imaging of defence signalling over extended time courses without specialised equipment.
Authors
- Liliia I. Fakhranurova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1844-4315)
- Sergey I. Kovalchuk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5273-3431)
- N. M. Markina
- V. V. Choob (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0228-1083)
- Karen S. Sarkisyan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5375-6341)
- Karel Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0817-8810)
- Tetiana Kalachova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2843-5482)
- Ekaterina S. Shakhova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6345-1330)
- Aubin Fleiss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0126-4537)
- Michael Karampelias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2095-988X)
- Alexander S. Mishin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4935-7030)
- Tatiana A. Karataeva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8719-2513)
- Olga A. Belozerova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5603-5371)
- Evgenia N. Bugaeva
- Ilia V. Yampolsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2558-2476)
- Maxim M. Perfilov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8987-9562)
- Anastasia V. Balakireva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1188-211X)
- Jan Petrášek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6719-2735)
- Kseniia A. Palkina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6998-2466)
- Anna N. Stepanova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1018-4758)
- J. Luis Puerto Alonso
- Nikola Drazna
- Viktor V. Morozov
- Galina M Delnova
- Tatiana Yu Mitiouchkina
- Jan Macháček
- Dmitry A. Gorbachev
- Zuzana Vondráková
- Josefina Patricia Fernandez-Moreno
Institutions
- nLIGHT (United States) (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU)
- Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (RU)
- Planta (RU)
- Institute of Botany of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- Fujian Research Institute of Light Industry (CN)
- Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (RU)
- NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (GB)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Botany (CZ)
- Institute of Business, Psychology and Management (RU)
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Córdoba (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-03-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70075-1
- Primary Topic
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00