Recently, the research group led by Prof. Xu Qiutao and Prof. Zhang Jisen from the School of Agriculture published a perspective review titled “The emerging epitranscriptomic modification ac⁴C regulates plant development and stress adaptation” in the internationally renowned journal Nature Plants. Yao Jiayu, a PhD candidate from the School of Agriculture, is the first author of the article, and Professors Xu Qiutao and Zhang Jisen serve as co-corresponding authors. GXU is listed as the first affiliation of the publication.

The article provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in the study of RNA ac⁴C modification in plants, highlighting the pivotal role of this emerging epitranscriptomic mark in plant growth regulation, stress responses, and immune defense. Research demonstrates that ac⁴C is widely present in rice and arabidopsis’ mRNA, exhibiting a finely tuned distribution pattern that is both evolutionarily conserved and species-specific. The modification is catalyzed by plant homologs of NAT10 proteins, such as OsNAT10 in rice and ACYR in arabidopsis. By enhancing mRNA stability and translation efficiency, ac⁴C participates in regulating leaf development, flowering under low-temperature conditions, and plant disease resistance.The article also points out several directions for future researches, including identifying ac⁴C “erasers” and “readers,” as well as developing novel crop breeding strategies based on ac⁴C -mediated regulation, providing new ideas for improving crop resilience and yield.

It is reported that this work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program, Guangxi Major Special Projects, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Guangxi Distinguished Young Scholars Fund, and the High-level Talent Program of GXU.