Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr 30;44(5):110.
doi: 10.1007/s00299-025-03492-z.

MhIDA small peptides modulate the growth and development of roots in Malus hupehensis

Ruirui Xu #  1 , Shuna Jiang #  2 , Hongjuan Ge  3 , Buhang Zhang  2 , Jing Shu  4 , Tianpeng Zhang  5 , Lijun Cao  6   7 , Shizhong Zhang  8
Affiliations

MhIDA small peptides modulate the growth and development of roots in Malus hupehensis

Ruirui Xu et al. Plant Cell Rep. .

Abstract

MhIDA small peptides promote apple root growth by enhancing auxin synthesis and cell wall remodeling gene expression, revealing a peptide-based strategy to improve root architecture. Although small peptides have been well documented as crucial regulators of plant growth and development, the molecular mechanisms underlying lateral root morphogenesis in Malus hupehensis remain poorly understood. In this research, exogenous application of 1 µM MhIDA-Like family peptides increased primary root (PR) length by 14.31-19.96% and lateral root (LR) number by 124.54-149.08%. MhIDA, predominant expression in the root tip and lateral root primordium, demonstrated the most substantial promoting effects on PR elongation, LR number and density when the treatment concentration reached 1 µM. Furthermore, similar effects were found in MhIDA-overexpression transgenic apple seedlings, with the number and density of transgenic LRs increase by 80.52 and 126.86%, respectively, compared with wild-type seedlings. More importantly, 1 µM MhIDA treatment induced significant hormonal alterations, with the content of auxin, salicylic acid and gibberellic acid increasing by 1.5-fold, 1.4-fold, and 2.1-fold, respectively, compared to control. The qRT-PCR results showed that MhIDA could induce the expression of auxin synthesis genes (MhTAA1 and MhYUCC1) that were up-regulated by about twofold, and the cell wall remodeling-related genes (MhEXP17, MhXTR6, MhPGAZAT and MhPGLR) were upregulated by about 2- to 4-fold after 1 µM MhIDA treatment, thereby regulating LR emergence and formation of Malus hupehensis. Overall, these findings suggested the MhIDA peptide can promote the growth and development of roots, laying the foundation for cultivating apple rootstocks with strong roots and higher resistance to abiotic stress.

Keywords: Malus hupehensis; Auxin; Lateral root; MhIDA; Small peptide.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Ali M, Shi L, Khan MA, Ali A, Hu S, Shen J (2025) Auxin biodynamics and its integral role in enhancing plant resilience to environmental cues. Physiol Plant 177(2):e70165. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.70165 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blackburn MR, Haruta M, Moura DS (2020) Twenty years of progress in physiological and biochemical investigation of RALF peptides. Plant Physiol 182(4):1657–1666. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.19.01310 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Blázquez M (2007) Quantitative GUS activity assay in intact plant tissue. CSH Protoc 2007:pdb.prot4688. https://doi.org/10.1101/pdb.prot4688 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brophy JAN, Magallon KJ, Duan L, Zhong V, Ramachandran P, Kniazev K, Dinneny JR (2022) Synthetic genetic circuits as a means of reprogramming plant roots. Science 377(6607):747–751. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo4326 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Butenko MA, Vie AK, Brembu T, Aalen RB, Bones AM (2009) Plant peptides in signalling: looking for new partners. Trends Plant Sci 14(5):255–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2009.02.002 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources