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In seed plants, the canonical role of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) is to serve as the precursor in the biosynthesis of the phytohormone ethylene, and indeed, ACC treatment is often used as a proxy for ethylene treatment. Increasing evidence suggests that ACC can also act independently of ethylene to regulate various aspects of plant growth and development. Here, we explore the effects of ACC onArabidopsis thalianaroot growth and the mechanisms by which it acts. ACC inhibits growth of the primary root inArabidopsisseedlings when ethylene signaling is blocked, which becomes evident after 36 h of treatment with ACC. This reduced root growth is in part the result of suppressed cell proliferation in the root meristem resulting from altered expression of a key regulator of stem cell niche activity, WOX5. ACC also promotes lateral root (LR) development, in contrast to ethylene, which inhibits LR formation. Transcriptomic analysis of roots revealed no significant changes in gene expression after 45 min or 4 h of ACC treatment, but longer treatment times revealed a large number of differentially expressed genes, including the downregulation of the expression of a small group of phylogenetically related CLE peptides. Reduced expression of these group 1 CLEs in response to ACC leads to the activation of a transcription factor, LBD18, which promotes LR development. These results suggest that ACC acts to modulate multiple aspects ofArabidopsisroot growth independently of ethylene via distinct transcriptional effects in the root meristem and LR precursor cells.
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WRKY transcription factors and ethylene signaling modify root growth during the shade-avoidance response
Abstract Shade-intolerant plants rapidly elongate their stems, branches, and leaf stalks to compete with neighboring vegetation, maximizing sunlight capture for photosynthesis. This rapid growth adaptation, known as the shade-avoidance response (SAR), comes at a cost: reduced biomass, crop yield, and root growth. Significant progress has been made on the mechanistic understanding of hypocotyl elongation during SAR; however, the molecular interpretation of root growth repression is not well understood. Here, we explore the mechanisms by which SAR induced by low red:far-red light restricts primary and lateral root (LR) growth. By analyzing the whole-genome transcriptome, we identified a core set of shade-induced genes in roots of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) seedlings grown in the shade. Abiotic and biotic stressors also induce many of these shade-induced genes and are predominantly regulated by WRKY transcription factors. Correspondingly, a majority of WRKY genes were among the shade-induced genes. Functional analysis using transgenics of these shade-induced WRKYs revealed that their role is essentially to restrict primary root and LR growth in the shade; captivatingly, they did not affect hypocotyl elongation. Similarly, we also found that ethylene hormone signaling is necessary for limiting root growth in the shade. We propose that during SAR, shade-induced WRKY26, 45, and 75, and ethylene reprogram gene expression in the root to restrict its growth and development.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1755355
- PAR ID:
- 10352939
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Plant Physiology
- Volume:
- 188
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0032-0889
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1294 to 1311
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiab493
