Chemical proteomic profling with photoaffinity labeling strategy identifies antimalarial targets of artemisinin

Present research on the antimalarial mechanisms of artemisinin(ART)is mainly focused on covalent drug binding targets alkylated by free radicals,while non-covalent binding targets have rarely been reported.Here,we developed a novel photoaffinity probe of ART to globally capture and identify the antimalarial target proteins of ART through chemical proteomics.The results demonstrated that ART can bind to par-asite proteins by both covalent and non-covalent modification,and these may jointly contribute to the antimalarial effects.Our work enriches the research on the antimalarial targets of ART,and provides a new perspective for further exploring the antimalarial mechanism of ART.

BAK1 plays contrasting roles in regulating abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure and abscisic acid-inhibited primary root growth in Arabidopsis

The mechanisms that balance plant growth and stress responses are poorly understood, but they appear to involve abscisic acid(ABA) signaling mediated by protein kinases. Here, to explore these mechanisms, we examined the responses of Arabidopsis thaliana protein kinase mutants to ABA treatment. We found that mutants of BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1-ASSOCIATED RECEPTOR KINASE 1(BAK1) were hypersensitive to the effects of ABA on both seed germination and primary root growth. The kinase OPEN STOMATA 1(OST1) was more highly activated by ABA in bak1 mutant than the wild type. BAK1 was not activated by ABA treatment in the dominant negative mutant abi1-1 or the pyr1 pyl4 pyl5 pyl8 quadruple mutant, but it was more highly activated by this treatment in the abi1-2 abi2-2 hab1-1 loss-of-function triple mutant than the wild type. BAK1 phosphorylates OST1 T146 and inhibits its activity. Genetic analyses suggested that BAK1 acts at or upstream of core components in the ABA signaling pathway, including PYLs, PP2 Cs,and Sn RK2 s, during seed germination and primary root growth. Although the upstream brassinosteroid(BR) signaling components BAK1 and BR INSENSITIVE 1(BRI1) positively regulate ABAinduced stomatal closure, mutations affecting downstream components of BR signaling, including BRASSINOSTEROID-SIGNALING KINASEs(BSKs)and BRASSINOSTEROID-INSENSITIVE 2(BIN2), did not affect ABA-mediated stomatal movement. Thus,our study uncovered an important role of BAK1 in negatively regulating ABA signaling during seed germination and primary root growth, but positively modulating ABA-induced stomatal closure, thus optimizing the plant growth under drought stress.