Localized induction of the ATP-binding cassette B19 auxin transporter enhances adventitious root formation in Arabidopsis

Plant Physiol. 2013 Jul;162(3):1392-405. doi: 10.1104/pp.113.217174. Epub 2013 May 15.

Abstract

Adventitious roots emerge from aerial plant tissues, and the induction of these roots is essential for clonal propagation of agriculturally important plant species. This process has received extensive study in horticultural species but much less focus in genetically tractable model species. We have explored the role of auxin transport in this process in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings in which adventitious root initiation was induced by excising roots from low-light-grown hypocotyls. Inhibition of auxin transport from the shoot apex abolishes adventitious root formation under these conditions. Root excision was accompanied by a rapid increase in radioactive indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) transport and its accumulation in the hypocotyl above the point of excision where adventitious roots emerge. Local increases in auxin-responsive gene expression were also observed above the site of excision using three auxin-responsive reporters. These changes in auxin accumulation preceded cell division events, monitored by a cyclin B1 reporter (pCYCB1;1:GUS), and adventitious root initiation. We examined excision-induced adventitious root formation in auxin influx and efflux mutants, including auxin insensitive1, pin-formed1 (pin1), pin2, pin3, and pin7, with the most profound reductions observed in ATP-binding cassette B19 (ABCB19). An ABCB19 overexpression line forms more adventitious roots than the wild type in intact seedlings. Examination of transcriptional and translational fusions between ABCB19 and green fluorescent protein indicates that excision locally induced the accumulation of ABCB19 transcript and protein that is temporally and spatially linked to local IAA accumulation leading to adventitious root formation. These experiments are consistent with localized synthesis of ABCB19 protein after hypocotyl excision leads to enhanced IAA transport and local IAA accumulation driving adventitious root formation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / genetics
  • ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / metabolism*
  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / growth & development
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism*
  • Biological Transport
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Hypocotyl / growth & development
  • Indoleacetic Acids / metabolism*
  • Mutation
  • Plant Roots / genetics
  • Plant Roots / growth & development*
  • Plant Roots / metabolism
  • Plant Shoots / metabolism
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Seedlings / genetics
  • Seedlings / growth & development

Substances

  • ABCB19 protein, Arabidopsis
  • ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters
  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Indoleacetic Acids
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • indoleacetic acid