Long-distance communication in Arabidopsis involving a self-activating G protein.

In plant cells, heterotrimeric G protein signaling mediates development, biotic/abiotic stress responsiveness, hormone signaling, and extracellular sugar sensing. The amount of sugar in plant cells fluctuates from nanomolar to high millimolar concentrations over time depending on changes in the light environment. Regulator of G Signaling protein 1 (AtRGS1) modulates G protein activation and detects the concentration and the exposure time of sugars. This is called dose-duration reciprocity in sugar sensing and occurs through AtRGS1 internalization which is directly proportional to G protein activation. One source of sugars is from CO fixation by photosynthesis. Through a simple set of experiments, we show that sugars made in cotyledons that are undergoing photomorphogenesis activate G signaling in cells distal to the nascent photosynthesis center. This occurs with sufficient speed to enable distal cells to monitor changes in photosynthetic activity in the leaves.