Abstract
Phytohormones play a crucial role in normal plant growth, but despite their fundamental influence on almost all aspects of plant development, very little is known on their mode of action at the molecular level. Here we describe three different approaches to addressing this question: the analysis of proteins which bind auxin with high specificity and as such might act as auxin receptors; the study of the effect of expression of bacterial genes whose products modify the intracellular levels of auxins and cytokinins, and the generation of gene tagged plant mutants altered in their response to auxins. While diverse in their approach, these strategies have been devised to dissect the auxin signal transduction pathway at the molecular level. The results that we will describe, while sharing a common thread, indicate that the plant cell has evolved a remarkable array of molecular pathways in response to plant growth substances.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barbier-Brygoo, H., Ephritikhine, G., Klämbt, D., Gishlain, M., Guem, J. (1989) Functional evidence for an auxin receptor at the plasmalemma of tobacco mesophyll protoplasts. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 231–237.
Barbier-Brygoo, H., Ephritikhine, G., Klämbt, D., Maurel, C., Palme, K., Schell, J., Guem, J. (1991) Perception of the auxin signal at the plasma membrane of tobacco mesophyll protoplasts. Plant J. 1, 83–93.
Benning, C. (1986) Evidence supporting a model of voltage-dependent uptake of auxin into Cucurbita vesicles. Planta 169, 228–237.
Blonstein, A.D., Stirnberg, P., King, P. (1991) Mutants of N. plumbaginifolia with specific resistance to auxin. Mol. Gen. Genet. 228, 361–371.
Brzobohaty, B., Moore, I., Kristoffersen, P., Bako, L., Campos, N., Schell, J., Palme, J. (1993) Release of active cytokinin by a ß-glucosidase localized to the maize root meristem. Science, in press.
Campos, N., Feldwisch, J., Zettl, R, Boland, W., Schell, J., Palme, K. (1991) Identification of auxin-binding proteins using an improved assay for photoaffinity labeling with 5-N3-(7-3H)-indole-3-acetic acid. Technique 3, 69–75.
Campos, N., Bako, L., Feldwisch, J., Schell, J., Palme, J. (1992) A protein from maize labeled with azido-IAA has novel ß-glucosidase activity. Plant J. 2, 675–684.
Campos, N., Schell, J., Palme, K. (1993) In vitro uptake and processing of maize auxin-binding proteins by ER-derived microsomes. Plant Cell Physiol. 34, in press.
Cohen, J.D., Bandurski, R.S. (1982) Chemistry and physiology of the bound auxins. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 34, 163–197.
Cross, J.W. (1985) Auxin action: The search for the receptor. Plant Cell Environ. 8, 351–359.
Estelle, M., Somerville, C. (1987) Auxin resistant mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana with altered morphology. Mol. Gen. Genet. 206, 200–206.
Estruch, J.J., Chriqui, D., Grossmann, K., Schell, J., Spena, A. (1991) The plant oncogene roiC is responsible for the release of cytokinins from glucoside conjugates. EMBO J. 10, 2889–2895.
Estruch, J.J., Parets-Soler, T., Schmtilling, T., Spena, A. (1991) Cystolic localisation in transgenic plants of the ro1C peptide from Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Plant Mol. Biol. 17, 547–550.
Estruch, J.J., Prinsen, E., Van Onckelen, H., Schell, J., Spena, A. (1991) Viviparous leaves produced by somatic activation of an inactive cytokinin-synthesizing gene. Science 254, 1364–1367.
Estruch, J.J., Schell, J., Spena, A. (1991) The protein encoded by the ro1B plant oncogene hydrolyses indole glucosides. EMBO J. 10, 3125–3128.
Feldwisch, J., Zettl, R., Hesse, F., Schell, J., Palme, K. (1992) An auxin-binding protein is localized to the plasma membrane of maize coleoptile cells: Identification by photoaffinity labeling and purification of a 23-kDa polypeptide. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 475–479.
Felle, H., Peters, W., Palme, K. (1991) The electrical response of maize to auxins. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1064, 199–204.
Gibson, S.I., Somerville, C. (1992) Chromosome walking in Arabidopsis thaliana using yeast artificial chromosomes. In: Methods in Arabidopsis Research, pp 119–143, Koncz, C., Chua, N.-H., Schell, J., eds. World Scientific, Singapore.
Goldsmith, M.H.M. (1982) A saturable site responsible for polar transport of indole-3acetic acid in sections of maize coleoptiles. Planta 155, 68–75.
Hayashi, H., Czaja, I., Schell, J., Walden, R. (1992) Activation of a plant gene by T-DNA tagging: auxin-independent growth in vitro. Science 258, 1350.
Hertel, R. (1987) Auxin transport: Binding of auxins and phytotropins to the carriers. Accumulation into and efflux from membrane vesicles. In: Plant Hormone Receptors. NATO ASI Series, Vol. H10, pp 81–92. Klämbt, D., ed. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Hertel, R., Lomax, T.L., Briggs, W.R. (1983) Auxin transport in membrane vesicles from Cucurbita pepo L. Planta 157, 193–201.
Hesse, T., Feldwisch, J., Balshiisemann, D., Bauw, G., Puype, M., Vandekerckhove, J., Löbler, M., Klämbt, D., Schell, J., Palme, K. (1989) Molecular cloning and structural analysis of a gene from Zea mays (L.) coding for a putative receptor for the plant hormone auxin. EMBO J. 8, 2453–2461.
Hicks, G.R., Rayle, D.L., Jones, A.M., Lomax, T.L. (1989) Specific photoaffinity labeling of two plasma membrane polypeptides with an azido auxin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 4948–4952.
Hicks, G.R., Rayle, D.L., Lomax, T. (1989) The Diageotropica mutant of tomato lacks high specific activity auxin binding sites. Science 245, 52–54.
Inohara, N., Shimomura, S., Fukui, T., Futai, M. (1989) Auxin-binding protein located in the endoplasmic reticulum of maize shoots: Molecular cloning and complete primary structure. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 3564–3568.
Inzé, D., Follin, A., Van Lijsebettens, M., Simoens, C., Genetello, C., Van Montagu, M., Schell, J. (1984) Genetic analysis of the individual T-DNA genes of Agrobacterium tumefaciens; further evidence that two genes are involved in indole-3-acetic acid synthesis. Mol. Gen. Genet. 194, 265–274.
Jacobs, M., Gilbert, S.F. (1983) Basal localization of the presumptive auxin transport carrier in pea stem cells. Science 220, 1297–1300.
Jones, A.M. (1990) Do we have the auxin receptor yet? Physiol. Plant. 80, 154–158.
Jones, A.M., Melhado, L.L., Ho, T.-H., Leonhard, N.J. (1984) Azido auxins. Quantitative binding data in maize. Plant Physiol. 74, 295–301.
Jones, A.M., Venis, M.A. (1989) Photoaffinity labeling of indole-3-acetic acid-binding proteins in maize. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 6153–6156.
Jones, A.M., Herman, E.M. (1993) KDEL-containing auxin-binding protein is secreted to the plasma membrane and cell wall. Plant Physiol. 101, 595–606.
Klee, H., Horsch, R.B., Hinchee, M., Hein, M.B., Hoffmann, N.L. (1987) The effects of overproduction of two Agrobacterium tumefaciens T-DNA auxin biosynthetic gene products in transgenic petunia plants. Genes Dev. 1, 86–89.
Körber, H., Strizhov, N., Staiger, D., Feldwisch, J., Olsson, O., Sandberg, G., Palme, K., Schell, J., Koncz, C. (1991) T-DNA gene 5 of Agrobacterium modulates auxin response by autoregulated synthesis of a growth hormone antagonist in plants. EMBO J. 10, 3983–3991.
Levesque, H., Delepelaire, P., Rouzé, P., Slightom, J., Tepfer, D. (1988) Common evolutionary origin of the central portions of the Ri TL-DNA of Agrobacterium rhizogenes and the Ti T-DNA of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plant Mol. Biol. 11, 781–744.
Libbenga, K.R., Mennes, A.M. (1987) In: Plant Hormones and their Role in Plant Growth and Development, pp 194–221. Davies, P.J., ed. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht.
Lincoln, C., Britton, J.H., Estelle, M. (1990) Growth and development of the axrl mutants of Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 2, 1071–1080.
Maher, E.P., Martindale, S.J.B. (1980) Mutants of Arabidopsis with altered responses to auxin and gravity. Biochem. Genet. 18, 1041–1053.
Martin-Tanguy, J., Tepfer, D., Paynot, M., Burtin, D., Heisler, L., Martin, C. (1990) Inverse relationship between polyamine levels and the degree of phenotypic alteration induced by the root inducing left-hand transferred DNA from Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Plant Physiol. 92, 912–918.
Maurel, C., Barbier-Brygoo, H., Brevet, J., Spena, A., Tempé, J., Guern, J. (1991) Agrobacterium rhizogenes T-DNA genes and sensitivity of plant protoplasts to auxins. In: Advances in Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions, pp 343–351. Hennecke, H., Verma, D.P.S., eds. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Michael, T., Spena, A. (1993) The plant oncogenes rolA, B and C from Agrobacterium rhizogenes; effects on morphology, development and hormone metabolism. In:Agrobacterium Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology Series, Gartland, K., Davey, M., eds. Humana Press, New Jersey (in press).
Nagata, T., Takebe, I. (1970) Cell wall regeneration and cell division in isolated tobacco mesophyll protoplasts. Planta 92, 301–308.
Napier, R.M., Venis, M. (1991) From auxin-binding protein to plant hormone receptor? Trends Biochem. Sci. 16, 72–75.
Narayanan, K.R., Mudge, K.W., Poovaiah, B.W. (1981) Demonstration of auxin binding to strawberry fruit membranes. Plant Physiol. 68, 1289–1293.
Nilsson, O., Crozier, A., Schmülling, T., Sandberg, G., Olsson, O. (1993) Indole-3-acetic acid homeostasis in transgenic tobacco plants expressing the Agrobacterium rhizogenes ro1B gene. Plant J. 3, 681–689.
Nilsson, O., Moritz, T., Imbault, N., Sandberg, G., Olsson, O. (1993) Hormonal characterization of transgenic tobacco plants expressing the rolC gene of Agrobacterium rhizogenes IL-DNA. Plant Physiol. 102, 363–371.
Oono, Y., Handa, T., Kanaya, K., Uchimiya, H. (1987) The TL-DNA gene of Ri plasmids responsible for dwarfness of tobacco plants. Jpn. J. Genet. 62, 501–505.
Palme, K., Feldwisch, J., Hesse, T., Bauw, G., Puype, M., Vandekerckhove, J., Schell, J. (1990) Auxin binding proteins from maize coleoptiles: Purification and molecular characterization. In: Hormone Perception and Signal Transduction in Animals and Plants, pp 299–313. Roberts, J., Kirk, C., Venis, M., eds. Society for Experimental, Biology.
Palme, K., Hesse, T., Moore, I., Campos, N., Feldwisch, J., Garbers, C., Hesse, F., Schell, J. (1991) Hormonal modulation of plant growth: The role of auxin perception. Mech. Dev. 33, 97–106.
Palme, K., Hesse, T., Campos, N., Garbers, C., Yanofsky, M.F., Schell, J. (1992) Molecular analysis of an auxin binding protein gene located on chromosome 4 of Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 4, 193–201.
Pickett, F.B., Wilson, A.K., Estelle, M. (1990) The auxl mutation of Arabidopsis confers both auxin and ethylene resistance. Plant Physiol. 94, 1462–1466.
Poovaiah, B.W. (1982) Strawberry fruit as a model system to study target tissue specificity and the physiological relevance of auxin-binding. Plant Physiol. 69, Suppl., 151.
Romano, C.P., Hein, M.B., Klee, H.J. (1991) Inactivation of auxin in tobacco transformed with the indoleacetic acid-lysine synthetase gene ofPseudomonassavastonoi. Genes and Devel. 5, 438–446.
Rubery, P.H. (1990) In: Hormone Perception and Signal Transduction in Animals and Plants, pp 119–146. Roberts, J., Kirk, C., Venis, M., eds. Company of Biologists Limited, Cambridge.
Rack, A., Palme, K., Venis, M.A., Napier, R.M., Felle, H.H. (1993) Patch-clamp analysis establishes a role for an auxin binding protein in the auxin stimulation of plasma membrane current in Zea mays protoplasts. Plant J. 4, 41–46.
Schliemann, W. (1991) Zum Konzept der reversiblen Konjugation bei Phytohormonen. Naturwissenschaften 78, 392–401.
Schmülling, T., Schell, J., Spena, A. (1988) Single genes from Agrobacterium rhizogenes influence plant development. EMBO J. 7, 2621–2629.
Schwob, E., Choi, S.-Y., Simmons, C., Migliaccio, F., Ilag, L., Hesse, T., Palme, K., Ö11, D. (1993) Molecular analysis of three maize 22 kDa auxin binding protein genes - transient promoter expression and regulatory regions. Plant J. 4, 423–432.
Sitbon, F., Östin, A., Sundberg, B., Olsson, O., Sandberg, G. (1993) Conjugation of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in wild-type and IAA-overproducing transgenictobacco plants, and identification of the main conjugates by fit-fast atom bombardment liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Plant Physiol. 101, 313–320.
Souza de, L., King, P.J. (1991) Mutants of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia with increased sensitivity to auxin. Mol. Gen. Genet. 231, 65–75.
Spena, A., Estruch, J.J., Schell, J. (1992) On microbes and plants: new insights in phytohormonal research. Current Opinion Biotech. 3, 159–163.
Spena, A., Prinsen, E., Fladung, M., Schulze, S.C., Van Onckelen, H. (1991) The indoleacetic acid-lysine synthetase gene of Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi induces developmental alterations in transgenic tobacco and potato plants. Mol. Gen. Genet. 227, 205–212.
Spena, A., Schmülling, T., Koncz, C., Schell, J. (1987) Independent and synergistic activity of rolA, B and C loci in stimulating abnormal growth in plants. EMBO J. 6, 3891–3899.
Sun, L.-Y., Monneuse, M.-O., Martin-Tanguy, J., Tepfer, D. (1991) Changes in flowering and the accumulation of polyamines and hydroxycinnamic acid-polyamine conjugates in tobacco plants transformed by the rolA locus from the Ri TL-DNA of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Plant Science 80, 145–156.
Tagliani, L., Nissen, S., Blake, T.K. (1986) Comparison of growth, exogenous auxin sensitivity and endogenous indole-3-acetic acid content in roots of Hordeum vulgare L. and an agravitropic mutant. Biochem. Genet. 24, 839–848.
Trewavas, A. (1980) An auxin induces the appearance of auxin-binding activity in artichoke tubers. Phytochemistry 1, 1303–1308.
Venis, M., ed. (1985) Hormone binding sites in plants. Longmann, New York.
Venis, M.A., Napier, R.M., Barbier-Brygoo, H., Maurel, C., Perrot-Rechenmann, C., Guern, J. (1992) Antibodies to a peptide from the maize auxin-binding protein have auxin agonist activity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 7208–7212.
Vreugdenhil, D., Burgers, A., Harkes, P.A.A., Libbenga, K.R. (1981) Modulation of the number of membrane-bound auxin-binding sites during the growth of batch-cultured tobacco cells. Planta 152, 415–419.
Walden, R., Hayashi, H., Schell, J. (1991) T-DNA as a gene tag. Plant J. 1, 281–288.
Walden, R., Czaja, I., Schmülling, T., Schell, J. (1993) Rol genes alter hormonal requirements for protoplast growth and modify the expression of an auxin responsive promoter. Plant Cell Rep. 12, 551–554.
Walton, D.J., Ray, P.M. (1981) Evidence for receptor functions of auxin-binding sites in maize; red light inhibition of mesocotyl elongation and auxin binding. Plant Physiol. 68, 1334–1338.
Wilson, A., Pickett, F.B., Turner, J., Estelle, M. (1990) A dominant mutation in Arabidopsis confers resistance to auxin, ethylene and abscisic acid. Mol. Gen. Genet. 222, 377–383.
Zambryski, P. (1992) Chronicles from the Agrobacterium-plant cell transfer story. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant. Mol. Biol. 43, 465–490.
Zettl, R., Campos, N., Feldwisch, J., Schell, J., Boland, W., Palme, K. (1991) Synthesis and application of 5’-azido-[3,6–412]naphthylphthalamic acid, a photo-activatable probe for auxin efflux carrier proteins. Technique 3, 151–158.
Zettl, R., Feldwisch, J., Boland, W., Schell, J., Palme, K. (1992) 5’-Azido-[3,6-3H2]-1 naphthylphthalamic acid, a photoactivatable probe for naphthylphthalamic acid receptor proteins from higher plants: Identification of a 23-kDa protein from maize coleoptile plasma membranes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 480–484.
Zobel, R.W. (1973) Some physiological characteristics of the ethylene-requiring tomato mutant diageotropica. Plant Physiol. 52, 385–389.
Yu, L.-W., Laza Rus, C.M. (1991) Structure and sequence of an auxin-binding protein gene from maize (Zea mays L.). Plant Mol. Biol. 16, 925–930.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schell, J., Palme, K., Walden, R. (1995). Molecular Approaches to the Study of the Mechanism of Action of Auxins. In: Davies, P.J. (eds) Plant Hormones. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0473-9_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0473-9_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-2985-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0473-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive