Microorganisms emit volatile compounds (VCs) that promote plant growth and photosynthesis (Gámez-Arcas et al. 2022, J. Exp. Bot. 73: 498-510. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erab463). In Arabidopsis, this response is associated with enhanced ClpC2 expression (Ameztoy et al. 2021, Front. Plant Sci. 12:637976. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.637976). This chaperone forms part of the Clp protease complex, which ensures the correct protein folding and functioning of essential processes in plastids. Previous studies indicated considerable functional redundancy between ClpC2 and its dominant paralogue ClpC1. However, the function and action mechanisms of ClpC2 still remain largely unknown. Here we found that ClpC2-lacking clpc2-3 mutants did not respond to microbial VCs. Knocking out CLPC2 reduced plant growth, photosynthesis and postgerminative establishment, and altered the levels of stress-related hormones. High-throughput differential proteomic analyses showed that ClpC2 inactivationpromotes changes in the expression of proteins involved in photosynthesis and protection against oxidative stress.Collectively, our findings provide evidence that ClpC2 is an important mediator of growth, photosynthesis, development and responses to microbial VCs

Resumen del trabajo presentado en el XXVI Meeting of the Spanish Society of Plant Biology (Iberian Plant Biology), celebrado en Murcia (España), del 1 al 4 de julio de 2025

Peer reviewed