NatB Complex Controls Plant Stress Survival, Study Finds
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- NatB complex dynamically controls protein degradation and recycling in plants by adding acetyl groups to approximately 20% of all proteins in eukaryotic cells, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
- Dr. Markus Wirtz at Heidelberg University's Center for Organismal Studies led the international team, with postdoc Dr. Xiaodi Gong explaining that NatB marks specific proteins for degradation and regulates the activity of protein kinase KIN 11.
- Genome-edited thale cress plants with inactive NatB showed general decreases in protein turnover and accumulation of KIN 11, the kinase involved in autophagy and nutrient recovery under stress.
- NatB-inactive mutants with high KIN 11 levels were significantly more resilient to limited energy supply than untreated plants, particularly during prolonged darkness when photosynthesis was impossible.
- Dr. Wirtz said the findings establish NatB as a central regulator of proteome stability, noting that a single biochemical modification is enough to fundamentally influence the plant stress response.
- The research was conducted as part of the GreenRobust Cluster of Excellence at Heidelberg, and Wirtz highlighted potential applications for increasing crop yields under adverse conditions.
Why it matters: For crop scientists, identifying NatB as a single biochemical switch coordinating protein turnover means engineering efforts could target one complex to improve resilience to energy-limited conditions like drought, shade, or prolonged darkness—potentially stabilizing yields in marginal environments. The counterintuitive finding that disabling NatB boosted stress survival complicates how researchers approach the pathway.
