Excess selenium (Se) is toxic to plants; however, relatively little information is known about the regulatory mechanism of plant Se tolerance. Jiang et al. report a novel role of the TPS22 (terpenoid synthase) gene in Se tolerance in Arabidopsis using mutant screening, gene cloning and expression studies.
Their findings reveal that cytokinin is downregulated and involved in TPS22-mediated Se tolerance by affecting the key gene expression of Se uptake and Se metabolism detoxification. This study sheds light on the mechanism of Se detoxification and tolerance in plants.
