RESUMO
Plant growth and development are controlled by a delicate balance of hormonal cues. Growth-promoting hormones and growth-inhibiting counterparts often antagonize each other in their action, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these events remain largely unknown. Here, we report a cross-talk mechanism that enables a receptor-like kinase, FERONIA (FER), a positive regulator of auxin-promoted growth, to suppress the abscisic acid (ABA) response through activation of ABI2, a negative regulator of ABA signaling. The FER pathway consists of a FER kinase interacting with guanine exchange factors GEF1, GEF4, and GEF10 that, in turn, activate GTPase ROP11/ARAC10. Arabidopsis mutants disrupted in any step of the FER pathway, including fer, gef1gef4gef10, or rop11/arac10, all displayed an ABA-hypersensitive response, implicating the FER pathway in the suppression mechanism. In search of the target for the FER pathway, we found that the ROP11/ARAC10 protein physically interacted with the ABI2 phosphatase and enhanced its activity, thereby linking the FER pathway with the inhibition of ABA signaling.
Assuntos
Ácido Abscísico/metabolismo , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/enzimologia , Arabidopsis/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Ativação Enzimática/fisiologia , Fosfoproteínas Fosfatases/metabolismo , Fosfotransferases/metabolismo , Transdução de Sinais/fisiologia , Ácido Abscísico/antagonistas & inibidores , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Clonagem Molecular , Primers do DNA/genética , Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP/genética , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Vetores Genéticos , Glucuronidase/metabolismo , Microscopia de Fluorescência , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismo , Transformação Genética , Proteínas rho de Ligação ao GTP/genética , Proteínas rho de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismoRESUMO
Rac-like GTPases or Rho-related GTPases from plants (RAC/ROPs) are important components of hormone signalling pathways in plants. Based on phylogeny, several groups can be distinguished, and the underlying premise is that members of different groups perform distinct functions in the plant. AtRAC7/ROP9 is phylogenetically unique among 11 Arabidopsis RAC/ROPs, and here it was shown that it functions as a modulator of auxin and abscisic acid (ABA) signalling, a dual role not previously assigned to these small GTPases. Plants with reduced levels of AtRAC7/ROP9 had increased sensitivity to auxin and were less sensitive to ABA. On the other hand, overexpressing AtRAC7/ROP9 activated ABA-induced gene expression but repressed auxin-induced gene expression. In addition, both hormones regulated the activity of the AtRAC7/ROP9 promoter, suggesting a feedback mechanism to modulate the signalling output from the AtRAC7/ROP9-controlled molecular switch. High levels of AtRAC7/ROP9 were detected specifically in embryos and lateral roots, underscoring the important role of this protein during embryo development and lateral root formation. These results place AtRAC7/ROP9 as an important signal transducer in recently described pathways that integrate auxin and ABA signalling in the plant.
Assuntos
Ácido Abscísico/farmacologia , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/efeitos dos fármacos , Arabidopsis/enzimologia , Ácidos Indolacéticos/farmacologia , Proteínas Monoméricas de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica de Plantas/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteínas Monoméricas de Ligação ao GTP/genética , Transdução de Sinais/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
Pollen tube growth is a polarized growth process whereby the tip-growing tubes elongate within the female reproductive tissues to deliver sperm cells to the ovules for fertilization. Efficient and regulated membrane trafficking activity incorporates membrane and deposits cell wall molecules at the tube apex and is believed to underlie rapid and focused growth at the pollen tube tip. Rab GTPases, key regulators of membrane trafficking, are candidates for important roles in regulating pollen tube growth. We show that a green fluorescent protein-tagged Nicotiana tabacum pollen-expressed Rab11b is localized predominantly to an inverted cone-shaped region in the pollen tube tip that is almost exclusively occupied by transport vesicles. Altering Rab11 activity by expressing either a constitutive active or a dominant negative variant of Rab11b in pollen resulted in reduced tube growth rate, meandering pollen tubes, and reduced male fertility. These mutant GTPases also inhibited targeting of exocytic and recycled vesicles to the pollen tube inverted cone region and compromised the delivery of secretory and cell wall proteins to the extracellular matrix. Properly regulated Rab11 GTPase activity is therefore essential for tip-focused membrane trafficking and growth at the pollen tube apex and is pivotal to reproductive success.