Hot topic: Thermosensing in plants

Plants alter their morphology and cellular homeostasis to promote resilience under a variety of heat regimes. Molecular processes that underlie these responses have been intensively studied and found to encompass diverse mechanisms operating across a broad range of cellular components, timescales and temperatures. This review explores recent progress throughout this landscape with a particular focus on thermosensing in the model plant Arabidopsis. Direct temperature sensors include the photosensors phytochrome B and phototropin, the clock component ELF3 and an RNA switch. In addition, there are heat‐regulated processes mediated by ion channels, lipids and lipid‐modifying enzymes, taking place at the plasma membrane and the chloroplast. In some cases, the mechanism of temperature perception is well understood but in others, this remains an open question. Potential novel thermosensing mechanisms are based on lipid and liquid–liquid phase separation. Finally, future research directions of high temperature perception and signalling pathways are discussed.
Knowledge of how plants sense elevated temperatures and initiate protective responses has greatly increased in recent years. Diverse mechanisms, involving changes in proteins, RNA and lipids, function in thermosensing across a range of timescales, locations and temperatures.