Receptor kinase module targets PIN-dependent auxin transport during canalization

Abstract

Spontaneously arising channels that transport the phytohormone auxin provide positional cues for self-organizing aspects of plant development such as flexible vasculature regeneration or its patterning during leaf venation. The auxin canalization hypothesis proposes a feedback between auxin signaling and transport as the underlying mechanism, but molecular players await discovery. We identified part of the machinery that routes auxin transport. The auxin-regulated receptor CAMEL (Canalization-related Auxin-regulated Malectin-type RLK) together with CANAR (Canalization-related Receptor-like kinase) interact with and phosphorylate PIN auxin transporters. camel and canar mutants are impaired in PIN1 subcellular trafficking and auxin-mediated PIN polarization, which macroscopically manifests as defects in leaf venation and vasculature regeneration after wounding. The CAMEL-CANAR receptor complex is part of the auxin feedback that coordinates polarization of individual cells during auxin canalization.