ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Plant Symbiotic Interactions: 2025View all 4 articles
The cytokinin histidine kinase receptors regulate shoot, root development and nodulation in Pisum sativum
Provisionally accepted
Karen Velandia1
Alejandro Correa-Lozano1
Alex Tomkinson1Stephane Boivin2Tracy François2Marion Dalmais2Anthony Klein3Christine Le Signor2Abdelhafid Bendahmane2
Florian Frugier2
James Balfour Reid1
Eloise Foo1*- 1University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
- 2Universite Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- 3Universite Bourgogne Europe, Dijon, France
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In this study, we expanded the understanding of cytokinin perception in legumes by generating and characterizing novel pea cytokinin receptor mutants carrying mutations for the four CHK genes in pea, CHK1, CHK2, CHK3 and CHK4. We constructed single, double, triple and quadruple mutants and analysed their shoot, root, and nodulation phenotypes. We evaluated their contributions to the activation of CK-responsive genes, TCSn promoter activity, and used RNAi knockdowns of CHK1 to explore its role in nodulation. We found key roles for CHK1 in promoting nodulation, CHK3 in delaying leaf senescence and CHK4 in promoting leaf size and axillary shoot branching. Traits such as stem elongation and width as well as shoot and root size were regulated redundantly by the CHK receptors. Overall, this work provides a genetic dissection of cytokinin receptor function in pea, advancing our understanding of hormone signalling in a crop legume and offering genetic insights with potential applications for improving both shoot architecture and symbiotic efficiency.
Keywords: Axillary shoot branching, CHK genes, CK-responsive genes, cytokinin histidine kinase receptors, cytokinin receptor function, hormone signalling, leaf senescence, Leaf size
Received: 20 Nov 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Velandia, Correa-Lozano, Tomkinson, Boivin, François, Dalmais, Klein, Le Signor, Bendahmane, Frugier, Reid and Foo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Eloise Foo
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