A Phosphoinositide-Mediated Switch of GET Pathway Receptor Dimerization in Arabidopsis

    October 2025 in “ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ”
    Lei Zhang, Aron Struß, Mengchun Qin, Annika Dombrowski, Tingting Li, Susanne Viebahn, Dietmar Gerald Mehlhorn, Christopher Grefen
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    TLDR Phospholipids help plant proteins move by regulating receptor interactions.
    The study investigates the regulation of the Guided Entry of Tail-Anchored Proteins (GET) pathway in Arabidopsis, focusing on the role of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P) in facilitating the proximity of receptors At GET1 and At GET2 within the ER membrane. At GET2 binds PI4P through an arginine residue, and mutation of this residue disrupts receptor proximity and GET complex function. This defect can be corrected by synthetic dimerization of At GET1 and At GET2. The PI4P phosphatase RHD4 converts PI4P to PI, enabling At GET1–At GET2 interaction, which is crucial for TA protein insertion and root hair growth. The study highlights the PI4P-RHD4 module as a key regulator of GET receptor dynamics, emphasizing the role of phospholipids in protein trafficking in plants.
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