Two research papers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been selected as "Landmark Papers" by the prestigious journal The Plant Cell. These papers are recognized as being among the 25 most influential studies published in the journal during the first quarter of the 21st century (2000-2024).
The recognition comes as part of a special issue, "Focus on translational research fromArabidopsis to crop plants and beyond," which systematically reviews advances in fundamental plant biology and explores the translational potential from model plants (like Arabidopsis) to crops and beyond.
To mark the occasion, The Plant Cell identified one Landmark Paper per year over the 25-year period (2000-2024), based on their scholarly impact and citation records. XTBG's two papers were selected for the years 2013 and 2023, respectively, standing out among only four total papers from Chinese institutions on this prestigious list.
2013 Landmark: Jasmonate – The "Signal Messenger" for Plant Freezing Tolerance
The 2013 Landmark Paper, titled "Jasmonate regulates the INDUCER OF CBF EXPRESSION–C-REPEAT BINDING FACTOR/DRE BINDING FACTOR1 cascade and freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis" (Hu et al., 2013), revealed the critical role and molecular mechanism of the hormone Jasmonate (JA) in regulating plant responses to freezing stress. It established a direct link between the JA signaling pathway and the classical cold signaling pathway (the ICE-CBF pathway), providing a crucial theoretical foundation for enhancing plant freezing tolerance through hormonal regulation. The first author of the paper is HU Yanru, then a Ph.D student, with Prof. YU Diqiu as corresponding author. Up to now, the paper has been cited for 636 times.
2023 Landmark: The Hormonal "Triangle" Orchestrating Seed Germination
The 2023 Landmark Paper, "Auxin contributes to jasmonate-mediated regulation of abscisic acid signaling during seed germination in Arabidopsis" (Mei et al., 2023), deciphered the genetic mechanisms by which three hormones – Jasmonate (JA), Auxin (IAA), and Abscisic Acid (ABA) – synergistically suppress seed germination. The research team discovered that the combined application of JA and IAA significantly enhances ABA-induced seed germination delay.
Further mechanistic studies showed that JAZ proteins antagonize the interaction between ARF10/ARF16 and ABI5, forming a dynamic regulatory network. This proposed "JA–IAA–ABA triangle synergy" model significantly deepens understanding of how plants integrate multiple hormone signals to regulate development and environmental adaptability.
Recognized for its scientific innovation, The Plant Cell featured the paper as a spotlight article titled "Hormone synergy: Auxin and jasmonate boost abscisic acid signaling via ARF10 and ARF16" . Concurrently, the leading review journal Trends in Plant Science published an expert commentary, "A complex signaling trio in seed germination: Auxin-JA-ABA" (Sybilska and Daszkowska-Golec, 2023), further affirming its academic significance.
The first author of the paper is MEI Song and ZHANG Huimin, with Prof. HU Yanru as the corresponding author. It is a highly cited paper in Web of Science.
