The era of nitric oxide in plant biology: Twenty years tying up loose ends

• Published in: Nitric oxide Vol. 85; pp. 17 - 27
• Main Authors: Del Castello, Fiorella, Nejamkin, Andrés, Cassia, Raul, Correa-Aragunde, Natalia, Fernández, Belén, Foresi, Noelia, Lombardo, Cristina, Ramirez, Leonor, Lamattina, Lorenzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.04.2019
• Subjects: Abiotic stresses; Hydrogen sulfide; Iron metabolism; Nitric oxide; Nitric oxide synthase; NO-Hormone crosstalk; Plant environment interactions; Plant growth regulator; Reactive oxygen species; Root growth and development; S-nitrosylation; Hydrogen sulfide; Iron metabolism; Reactive oxygen species; Abiotic stresses; Nitric oxide; S-nitrosylation; Nitric oxide synthase; Plant growth regulator; NO-Hormone crosstalk; Root growth and development; Plant environment interactions
• ISSN: 1089-8603; 1089-8611
• DOI: 10.1016/j.niox.2019.01.013

Nitric oxide (NO) is an essential signal molecule to maintain cellular homeostasis in uni and pluricellular organisms. Conceptually, NO intervenes as much in sustaining basal metabolic processes, as in firing cellular responses to changes in internal and external conditions, and also in guiding the return to basal conditions. Behind these unusual capabilities of NO is the chemistry of this molecule, an unstable, reactive, free radical and short half-life gas. It is a lipophilic molecule that crosses all the barriers that biological membranes can impose. The extraordinary impact that the elucidation of physiological processes regulated by NO has had on plants, is comparable to the consequences of the discovery in 1986 that NO is present in animal tissues, and the following deep studies that demonstrated its biological activity regulating blood pressure. In this review, we have summarized and discuss the main discoveries that have emerged at Mar del Plata University over the past 20 years, and that have contributed to understand part of the biology of NO in plants. Besides, these findings are put in context with the progress made by other research groups, and in perspective, emphasizing that the history of NO in plants has just begun. •NO is a gaseous, redox‐active and small signal molecule in plants.•NO is a key regulator of plant growth, development and environmental interacting processes.•S-nitrosylation of Cys residues is a PTM of proteins underpinning NO functions.•NOS enzymes have been characterized in microalgae and cyanobacteria.