Chemical-sensitized MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE 4 provides insights into its functions in plant growth and immunity

Abstract Two mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades with MPK4 and MPK3/MPK6 as the bottommost kinases are key to plant growth/development and immune signaling. Disruption of the MPK4 cascade leads to severe dwarfism and autoimmunity, complicating the study of MPK4 in plant growth/development and immunity. In this study, we successfully rescued the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mpk4 mutant using a chemical-sensitized MPK4 variant, MPK4YG, creating a conditional activity-null mpk4 mutant named MPK4SR (genotype: PMPK4:MPK4YG mpk4) that could be used to examine the functions of MPK4 in plant growth/development and immunity. We discovered that the duration of the loss of MPK4 activity is important to plant immune responses. Short-term loss of MPK4 activity did not impact flg22-induced ROS burst or resistance against Pseudomonas syringae (Pst). Enhanced Pst resistance was only observed in the MPK4SR plants with stunted growth following prolonged inhibition of MPK4 activity. Transcriptome analyses in plants with short-term loss of MPK4 activity revealed a vital role of MPK4 in regulating several housekeeping processes, including mitosis, transcription initiation, and cell wall macromolecule catabolism. Furthermore, the constitutive weak activation of MPK4GA in the MPK4CA plants (genotype: PMPK4:MPK4GA mpk4) led to early flowering and premature senescence, which was associated with its compromised resistance against Pst. These findings suggest that MPK4 plays important roles in plant growth and development and in maintaining the delicate balance between growth/development and immune adaptation in plants.