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0The paper details the discovery of a specific peptide signaling pathway that protects crop fertility during extreme cold stress. Researchers identified two small signaling peptides, SlRGF9 and SlRGF10, which are triggered by low temperatures to prevent pollen abortion in tomato and rice plants. These peptides bind to cell-surface receptors to activate calcium influx, a process that ensures the proper timing of tapetum degradation and nutrient delivery to developing pollen. Without this signaling, chilling leads to irreversible reproductive failure and significant yield losses. The study demonstrates that upregulating these genes can dramatically improve cold resilience, offering a biological strategy to safeguard global food security against climate-driven weather fluctuations. This core regulatory mechanism appears to be evolutionarily conserved across both dicot and monocot crop species.
References:
Chen S, Zou Y, Cui H, et al. Cold-induced peptide signalling secures pollen resilience and crop yield[J]. Nature, 2026: 1-10.
