• NEWS AND VIEWS

Missing steps uncovered in a pathway plants use to produce the defence molecule salicylic acid

A long-standing mystery about a pathway that makes a key defence molecule in various valuable crop plants is finally solved.
By
  1. Jiyeon Hyun

    1. Jiyeon Hyun is at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, USA.

  2. Heejin Yoo

    1. Heejin Yoo is at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, USA.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Aspirin, one of the world’s most widely used painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, is made from salicylic acid, which was originally identified in the bark of willow trees (trees of the genus Salix)1. In 1828, German scientist Johann Buchner extracted a willow-derived compound called salicin, which is a salicylic acid derivative and a therapeutically active substance1. Salicylic acid is much more than just a molecule needed to make aspirin; it also has a crucial role in plant biology as a key defence hormone. Yet scientists’ understanding of the pathways involved in the production of this molecule has long remained incomplete. Writing in Nature, Liu et al.2, Zhu et al.3 and Wang et al.4 fill in this gap by identifying three missing enzymes, completing a pathway to make salicylic acid.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02131-7

References

  1. Desborough, M. J. R. & Keeling, D. M. Br. J. Haematol. 177, 674–683 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu, Y. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09280-9 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhu, B. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09280-9 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang, Y. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09280-9 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Jia, X. et al. Mol. Plant 16, 245–259 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Rekhter, D. et al. Science 365, 498–502 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Torrens-Spence, M. P. et al. Mol. Plant 12, 1577–1586 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Hong, K. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.03.641121 (2025).

  9. Yalpani, N., León, J., Lawton, M. A. & Raskin, I. Plant Physiol. 103, 315–321 (1993).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pallas, J. A., Paiva, N. L., Lamb, C. & Dixon, R. A. Plant J. 10, 281–293 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bussell, J. D., Reichelt, M., Wiszniewski, A. A. G., Gershenzon, J. & Smith, S. M. Plant Physiol. 164, 48–54 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. León, J., Shulaev, V., Yalpani, N., Lawton, M. A. & Raskin, I. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 10413–10417 (1995).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Fu, Z. Q. & Dong, X. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 64, 839–863 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Zheng, X.-Y. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 9166–9173 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Hartmann, M. et al. Cell 173, 456–469 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Yildiz, I. et al. Plant Physiol. 186, 1679–1705 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Cao, L. et al. Science 385, 1211–1217 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Hyun, J. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.17.664945 (2025).

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing