Mechano-Chemical Aspects of Organ Formation in Arabidopsis thaliana: The Relationship between Auxin and Pectin
Options
BORIS DOI
Date of Publication
March 2013
Publication Type
Article
Division/Institute
Contributor
Peaucelle, Alexis |
Editor
Grebe, Markus |
Subject(s)
Series
PLoS ONE
ISSN or ISBN (if monograph)
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Language
English
Publisher DOI
Description
How instructive signals are translated into robust and predictable changes in growth is a central question in developmental biology. Recently, much interest has centered on the feedback between chemical instructions and mechanical changes for pattern formation in development. In plants, the patterned arrangement of aerial organs, or phyllotaxis, is instructed by the phytohormone auxin; however, it still remains to be seen how auxin is linked, at the apex, to the biochemical and mechanical changes of the cell wall required for organ outgrowth. Here, using Atomic Force Microscopy, we demonstrate that auxin reduces tissue rigidity prior to organ outgrowth in the shoot apex of Arabidopsis thaliana, and that the de-methyl-esterification of pectin is necessary for this reduction. We further show that development of functional organs produced by pectin-mediated ectopic wall softening requires auxin signaling. Lastly, we demonstrate that coordinated localization of the auxin transport protein, PIN1, is disrupted in a naked-apex produced by increasing cell wall rigidity. Our data indicates that a feedback loop between the instructive chemical auxin and cell wall mechanics may play a crucial role in phyllotactic patterning.
File(s)
File | File Type | Format | Size | License | Publisher/Copright statement | Content | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLOSone_e57813.pdf | text | Adobe PDF | 5.91 MB | published |