<scp>AI</scp> for plant protein–protein interactions prediction

Protein-Protein interactions (PPIs) wire plant cells, assembling metabolons, routing signals, and coordinating organelle crosstalk. We review experimental platforms and the computational signals long used to predict PPIs. While experimental platforms and traditional computational approaches have long been employed for PPIs prediction, recent advances in artificial intelligence offer unprecedented opportunities to map plant interactomes comprehensively. To provide a systematic overview, we categorize current methodologies into four thematic families: (i) sequence-centric predictors utilizing protein language models to extract evolutionary features; (ii) structure-based predictors integrating coevolutionary signals to reconstruct 3D complex arrangements; (iii) network-level learners employing graph architectures to capture global interactome topology; and (iv) geometric and generative methods leveraging symmetry-aware networks for specific site identification and de novo design. Despite rapid gains, plant applications are constrained by paralog expansion, compartmentalization, dynamic microenvironments, and the sparse availability of gold standards in the field. Next-generation plant AI PPI models should be organelle-aware, multimodal, rigorously benchmarked, structure-gated, and condition-validated.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Plant Journal
Published
2026-04-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70867
Primary Topic
Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

AI for plant protein–protein interactions prediction

Caibin Zhang, Alisdair Robert Fernie, Rui Deng, Youjun Zhang
The Plant Journal
Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
article

AI for plant protein–protein interactions prediction

Caibin Zhang, Alisdair Robert Fernie, Rui Deng, Youjun Zhang
article en

Abstract

Protein-Protein interactions (PPIs) wire plant cells, assembling metabolons, routing signals, and coordinating organelle crosstalk. We review experimental platforms and the computational signals long used to predict PPIs. While experimental platforms and traditional computational approaches have long been employed for PPIs prediction, recent advances in artificial intelligence offer unprecedented opportunities to map plant interactomes comprehensively. To provide a systematic overview, we categorize current methodologies into four thematic families: (i) sequence-centric predictors utilizing protein language models to extract evolutionary features; (ii) structure-based predictors integrating coevolutionary signals to reconstruct 3D complex arrangements; (iii) network-level learners employing graph architectures to capture global interactome topology; and (iv) geometric and generative methods leveraging symmetry-aware networks for specific site identification and de novo design. Despite rapid gains, plant applications are constrained by paralog expansion, compartmentalization, dynamic microenvironments, and the sparse availability of gold standards in the field. Next-generation plant AI PPI models should be organelle-aware, multimodal, rigorously benchmarked, structure-gated, and condition-validated.

The Plant JournalVol. 126(1)
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (DE), State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics (CN), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
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