Scientific news
Friday, 21-11-2025 | 14:16
Tight regulation of immune activation is crucial for plant health. How plants control the actions of their immunostimulatory phytocytokines is largely unknown. Here, we identify antiSYS as a natural inhibitor of the tomato cytokine systemin. AntiSYS is a systemin-like peptide encoded in a gene cluster with four additional paralogs, three of which comprise newly identified agonistic systemins. AntiSYS is a potent and specific antagonist of the systemin receptor.



