Reposted by Songwen ZhangSongwen Zhang @songwenz.bsky.social · 19/09/2026People know salicylic acid best for its connection to aspirin (aspirin is made from it). Not many people know that it is a major defense hormone naturally made in plants. This paper shows how exactly this hormone activates plant immunity at the molecular level. (Co-author on the paper here!😊) 001
Songwen Zhang @songwenz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Thrilled to share our new paper in Nature: We found how salicylic acid drives plant immune signaling — it binds its receptor NPR1 and allosterically boosts NPR1’s grip on the Mediator complex (via MED15), switching on defense genes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comTranscriptional activation of plant immunity by salicylic acid - NatureA mechanistic basis for how the hormone salicylic acid promotes transcriptional activation during plant immune responses is described. 1359