Recently, Nature Communications published research led by Professor Chen Junyi from the School of Life Sciences at Central China Normal University (CCNU), underlying programmed cell death (PCD) in persistent synergid cells after fertilization in flowering plants. The study titled "Fertilization-induced synergid cell death by RALF12-triggered ROS production and ethylene signaling" (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58246 -y), reveals novel regulatory pathways of plant developmental PCD (dPCD). Prof. Chen Junyi and Wang Huan, a doctoral candidate of CCNU, are co-first authors, with Prof. Chen Junyi and Prof. Thomas Dresselhaus from University of Regensburg, Germany serving as corresponding authors.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Program for Young Talents, the Hongshan Laboratory Project of Hubei Province, the Scholar Support Program of CCNU, the Humboldt Foundation of Germany, and the German Science Foundation.
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