SHORT-ROOT Deficiency Alleviates the Cell Death Phenotype of the Arabidopsis catalase2 Mutant under Photorespiration-Promoting Conditions

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can act as a signaling molecule that influences various aspects of plant growth and development, including stress signaling and cell death. To unravel the molecular mechanisms that regulate the response towards an impact of increased H2O2 levels in plant cells, we focused on the photorespiration-dependent peroxisomal H2O2 production in Arabidopsis thaliana mutants lacking CATALASE2 (CAT2) activity (cat2-2) and screened for second-site mutations that attenuate the Fv''/Fm'' decrease and lesion formation linked to the cat2-2 phenotype. A mutation in the transcriptional regulator SHORT-ROOT (SHR) of the GRAS family rescued the cell death phenotype of cat2-2 plants under photorespiration-promoting conditions in a SCR-independent way, and provoked perturbation of photorespiratory metabolites. SHR deficiency boosted ascorbate levels and prevented the oxidation of the glutathione pool in cat2-2 background upon exposure to photorespiratory stress. These results reveal an unanticipated role for SHR as a regulator of cellular redox homeostasis. Overall design: Unstressed and stressed samples of 4 genotypes (Col-0, cat2, shr and cat2 shr) in triplicate