Project description:The acquisition of water and nutrients by plant roots is a fundamental aspect of agriculture and strongly depends on root architecture. Root branching and expansion of the root system is achieved through the development of lateral roots and is to a large extent controlled by the plant hormone auxin. However, the pleiotropic effects of auxin or auxin-like molecules on root systems complicate the study of lateral root development. Here we describe a small-molecule screen in Arabidopsis thaliana that identified naxillin as what is to our knowledge the first non-auxin-like molecule that promotes root branching. By using naxillin as a chemical tool, we identified a new function for root cap-specific conversion of the auxin precursor indole-3-butyric acid into the active auxin indole-3-acetic acid and uncovered the involvement of the root cap in root branching. Delivery of an auxin precursor in peripheral tissues such as the root cap might represent an important mechanism shaping root architecture. To further explore the specificity of naxillin for lateral root development, we compared the early effects of naxillin at the transcriptome level with NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic acid) in roots of 3-day-old seedlings after 2-h and 6-h treatment.
Project description:The acquisition of water and nutrients by plant roots is a fundamental aspect of agriculture and strongly depends on root architecture. Root branching and expansion of the root system is achieved through the development of lateral roots and is to a large extent controlled by the plant hormone auxin. However, the pleiotropic effects of auxin or auxin-like molecules on root systems complicate the study of lateral root development. Here we describe a small-molecule screen in Arabidopsis thaliana that identified naxillin as what is to our knowledge the first non-auxin-like molecule that promotes root branching. By using naxillin as a chemical tool, we identified a new function for root cap-specific conversion of the auxin precursor indole-3-butyric acid into the active auxin indole-3-acetic acid and uncovered the involvement of the root cap in root branching. Delivery of an auxin precursor in peripheral tissues such as the root cap might represent an important mechanism shaping root architecture. To further explore the specificity of naxillin for lateral root development, we compared the early effects of naxillin at the transcriptome level with NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic acid) in roots of 3-day-old seedlings after 2-h and 6-h treatment. Arabidopsis thaliana (L). Heynh., Col-0 seeds were germinated vertically on solid medium derived from standard MS medium supplemented with 10 μM NPA (1-N-Naphthylphthalamic acid). Three days after germination, plants were transferred to 10 μM NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic acid) or 50 μM naxillin for 2 and 6 hours. Plants were sampled before (Roots at T0, NPA) or after treatment (Roots at T1 and T2). RNA isolation was performed on 500 root sections (only root without meristems) for each sample. All sampling points were performed in three independent experiments.
Project description:The root cap-specific conversion of the auxin precursor indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) into the main auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) generates a local auxin source which subsequently modulates both the periodicity and intensity of auxin response oscillations in the root tip of Arabidopsis, and consequently fine-tunes the spatiotemporal patterning of lateral roots. To explore downstream components of this signaling process, we investigated the early transcriptional regulations happening in the root tip during IBA-to-IAA conversion in Col-0 and ibr1 ibr3 ibr10 triple mutant after 6 hours of IBA treatment. Arabidopsis thaliana (L). Heynh., Col-0 and ibr1ibr3ibr10 seeds were germinated vertically on solid medium derived from standard Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Three days after germination, Col-0 and ibr1ibr3ibr10 seedlings were transferred to a fresh MS medium supplemented with or without 10 ?M indole-3-buytric acid (IBA) for 6 hours. Then, root tip segments (~4mm) were dissected from the primary root and harvested for further RNA extraction. For each treatment, at least 120 individual Col-0 or ibr1ibr3ibr10 mutant root tip segments were sampled and three independent biological replicates were performed. Hormone and DMSO solution were filer-sterilized before being added to the medium.
Project description:The root cap-specific conversion of the auxin precursor indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) into the main auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) generates a local auxin source which subsequently modulates both the periodicity and intensity of auxin response oscillations in the root tip of Arabidopsis, and consequently fine-tunes the spatiotemporal patterning of lateral roots. To explore downstream components of this signaling process, we investigated the early transcriptional regulations happening in the root tip during IBA-to-IAA conversion in Col-0 and ibr1 ibr3 ibr10 triple mutant after 6 hours of IBA treatment.
Project description:To identify genes involved in the early phases of lateral root initiation, we profiled the transcriptomes of plants synchronously induced for lateral root initiation after 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6h of auxin treatment in conditions where IAA14 or IAA3-dependent auxin signaling is blocked. For this we used seedlings expressing non-degradable versions of the AUX/IAAs IAA14 (slr-1) or IAA3 (shy2-2) fused to the glucocorticoid receptor domain (slr-1:GR or shy2-2:GR) under the control of the pericycle and founder cell specific GATA23 promoter. Treatment with dexamethasone induces, specifically in pericycle cells, the nuclear translocation of the non-degradable AUX/IAA that acts as a dominant repressor of auxin signaling resulting in a complete block of lateral root formation
Project description:The goal of this study is to clarify the function of ARF7 in the pathway of auxin inducing lateral root development. We isolated total RNA from the roots of 8-day-old Col-0 and arf7 seedlings. New genes act downstream of ARF7 after responding to auxin treatment, during the lateral root formation, are discovered.
Project description:Genome wide transcriptome profiling of pericycle cells from roots exposed to auxin, cytokinin and both hormones simultaneously. Lateral root organogenesis in Arabidopsis is governed by a complex network of hormonal regulations. Plant hormones auxin and cytokinin were demonstrated to be the key regulators of this lateral root organogenesis and their mode of interaction is antagonistic. The aim of the project is to understand the role of the auxin - cytokinin signalling pathways in lateral root organogenesis.
Project description:The main purpose of this work is to clarify the effect of bacterial PLR on lateral root development in Arabidopsis, especially focusing on the fluctuation of auxin signaling in plants, so as to explain that PLR promotes lateral root development by promoting auxin signaling in plants.
Project description:Auxin is a key phytohormone regulating central processes in plants that include embryo development, lateral root growth and flower maturation among others. Auxin is sensed by a set of F-Box proteins of the TIR1/AFB3 family triggering auxin dependent responses by a pathway that involves an interplay between the Aux/IAA transcription repressors and the ARF transcription factors. We have previously shown that the AFB3 auxin receptor has a specific role in coordinating primary and lateral root growth to external and internal nitrate availability (Vidal et al., 2010). In this work, we used an integrated genomics, bioinformatics and molecular genetics approach to dissect regulatory networks acting downstream AFB3 that are activated by a transient nitrate treatment in Arabidopsis roots. Our systems approach unraveled key components of the AFB3 regulatory network leading to changes in lateral root growth in response to nitrate. Arabidopsis seedlings of the Ws and afb3-1 genotypes were grown on hydroponic medium containing 1X MS salts without Nitrogen, supplemented with 0.5 mM ammonium succinate as Nitrogen source and 3 mM sucrose on a Percival chamber under a photoperiod of 16 hours of light (100 μE/m2/sec) and 8 hours of dark at 22°C for 14 days. The plants were treated at the onset of the light cycle with 5 mM KNO3 or 5 mM KCl as control for 2 hours. Whole roots were cut from seedlings and frozen on liquid Nitrogen. Total RNA was extracted using the TriZol reagent. 3 independent biological replicates were performed.
Project description:This model is from the article:
The influence of cytokinin-auxin cross-regulation on cell-fate determination in Arabidopsis thaliana root development
Muraro D, Byrne H, King J, Voss U, Kieber J, Bennett M.
J Theor Biol.2011 Aug 21;283(1):152-67.
PMID: 21640126,
Abstract:
Root growth and development in Arabidopsis thaliana are sustained by a specialised zone termed the meristem, which contains a population of dividing and differentiating cells that are functionally analogous to a stem cell niche in animals. The hormones auxin and cytokinin control meristem size antagonistically. Local accumulation of auxin promotes cell division and the initiation of a lateral root primordium. By contrast, high cytokinin concentrations disrupt the regular pattern of divisions that characterises lateral root development, and promote differentiation. The way in which the hormones interact is controlled by a genetic regulatory network. In this paper, we propose a deterministic mathematical model to describe this network and present model simulations that reproduce the experimentally observed effects of cytokinin on the expression of auxin regulated genes. We show how auxin response genes and auxin efflux transporters may be affected by the presence of cytokinin. We also analyse and compare the responses of the hormones auxin and cytokinin to changes in their supply with the responses obtained by genetic mutations of SHY2, which encodes a protein that plays a key role in balancing cytokinin and auxin regulation of meristem size. We show that although shy2 mutations can qualitatively reproduce the effect of varying auxin and cytokinin supply on their response genes, some elements of the network respond differently to changes in hormonal supply and to genetic mutations, implying a different, general response of the network. We conclude that an analysis based on the ratio between these two hormones may be misleading and that a mathematical model can serve as a useful tool for stimulate further experimental work by predicting the response of the network to changes in hormone levels and to other genetic mutations.