Salk Institute researchers have identified a plant-specific DNA repair protein called YAF9B that helps protect growth tissues after DNA damage. The discovery may support future advances in crop resilience, stress tolerance and more precise genome editing.
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New Salk Institute research identifies a plant-specific DNA repair protein that may help protect growth tissues and support future advances in crop resilience and genome editing.
Plants face constant environmental stress from sunlight, radiation, drought and poor soil conditions. These stresses can damage plant DNA, affecting growth, development and survival. Unlike animals, plants cannot move away from harmful conditions, so they depend on strong internal repair systems to protect their cells and maintain healthy growth.
Protecting the Tissues That Drive Plant Growth
These repair systems are especially important in the plant tissues that drive future growth, including stem cell-like regions that produce new leaves, roots, flowers and seeds. Until now, scientists have not fully understood how plants coordinate DNA repair in these critical tissues.
Researchers at the Salk Institute have now identified a specialized DNA repair protein that may give plants an added layer of protection.
A Plant-Specific Protein Responds to DNA Damage
The findings, published June 8, 2026, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that plants evolved a unique protein called YAF9B. This protein is activated only after DNA damage occurs and helps protect important growth tissues from genetic instability.
The discovery improves understanding of how plants survive environmental stress and continue developing under challenging growing conditions. It may also offer new insight for crop research focused on plant resilience, stress tolerance and long-term productivity.
Why is DNA Repair so Important in Plants?
“Plants are unique because the same thing that gives them the ability to grow — sunlight — is constantly damaging their DNA,” says senior author Julie Law, Ph.D., a professor at Salk.
“The question is, how do they cope with that level of DNA damage?”
How Chromatin Can Make Repair More Difficult
Inside plant cells, DNA is wrapped tightly around proteins called histones. These DNA-protein bundles are packed together into a dense structure known as chromatin. While this packaging helps organize and protect the plant’s genetic material, it can also make DNA damage harder to find and repair, because damaged areas may be buried or difficult for repair proteins to reach, according to a press release.
“In order to repair damaged DNA,” explains Law, “you first need to detect the damage and then recruit the proteins required to unwind the chromatin and repair the DNA.”
Emergency Responders for DNA Repair: YAF9A and YAF9B
To deal with damaged DNA, plants use specialized proteins that act like emergency responders inside the cell. These proteins help loosen tightly packed chromatin, guide repair machinery to damaged areas and coordinate the repair process so the plant can protect its genetic material and continue growing.
“The YAF9 family of proteins is found in yeast, animals and plants,” says first author Neeraja Vegesna, a former graduate student researcher in Law’s lab.
“But plants evolved a second version, YAF9B, that is specifically activated after DNA damage occurs.”
Two Proteins, Two Different Repair Roles
YAF9A acts like a broad repair-response protein active throughout the plant, while YAF9B is a specialized protein concentrated in stem cell-rich tissues that generate new roots, shoots and leaves.
“These stem cells are what generate the rest of the plant,” adds Law. “The hypothesis is that the plant produces this factor to help protect those cells and give them a better chance of carrying out highly accurate DNA repair.”
What is so Special About YAF9A and YAF9B Repairs?
Plants have more than one way to repair broken DNA. One approach is fast and direct, quickly sealing broken DNA ends back together so the cell can keep functioning. This rapid repair method is useful under stress, but it can sometimes introduce small errors or mutations.
Fast Repair Versus High-Fidelity Repair
Another approach is slower but more precise. Instead of simply joining the broken ends, the plant cell uses an undamaged copy of DNA as a guide to rebuild the damaged section. This helps preserve the original genetic information and supports healthy growth and development.
“Accurate DNA repair is essential for maintaining genome stability, but it depends on many proteins working together within chromatin,” says Law. “What’s exciting about this study is that we identified YAF9B as a DNA damage-responsive chromatin reader that helps cells carry out high-fidelity DNA repair, revealing a novel innovation used by plants to protect their genomes.”
“Our next goal is to understand how these chromatin effectors coordinate different stages of DNA repair and how exactly YAF9B promotes accurate and effective DNA repair,” says Law.
Could This Discovery Help Improve Future Crops?
The discovery could have important value for crop research and plant breeding. Many current CRISPR-based gene-editing methods in plants rely on fast DNA repair systems that can introduce mistakes, making it harder for scientists to precisely replace or insert genes.
Potential Benefits for Crop Editing and Resilience
By learning how plants naturally support more accurate DNA repair, researchers may be able to develop tools for more precise genome editing in crops. This could help improve important traits while also protecting genome stability in the tissues that drive plant growth.
The research team now plans to study how the related proteins YAF9A and YAF9B perform different jobs during DNA repair. They want to understand what makes YAF9B especially important after DNA damage and how both proteins work together to guide the repair process.
“If we can understand how plants promote high-fidelity repair, we may eventually be able to improve genome editing technologies in plants,” says Law.
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