Auxin acts as a local morphogenetic trigger to specify lateral root founder cells

作者：Joseph Dubrovsky, Michael Sauer, Selene Napsucialy‐Mendivil, Maria G. Ivanchenko, Jiřı́ Friml, Svetlana Shishkova, John L. Celenza, Eva Benková · 发表于：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 年份：2008 · DOI：10.1073/pnas.0712307105 · 被引用次数：643 · 研究领域：Plant Molecular Biology Research、Plant Reproductive Biology、Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism

Plants exhibit an exceptional adaptability to different environmental conditions. To a large extent, this adaptability depends on their ability to initiate and form new organs throughout their entire postembryonic life. Plant shoot and root systems unceasingly branch and form axillary shoots or lateral roots, respectively. The first event in the formation of a new organ is specification of founder cells. Several plant hormones, prominent among them auxin, have been implicated in the acquisition of founder cell identity by differentiated cells, but the mechanisms underlying this process are largely elusive. Here, we show that auxin and its local accumulation in root pericycle cells is a necessary and sufficient signal to respecify these cells into lateral root founder cells. Analysis of the alf4-1 mutant suggests that specification of founder cells and the subsequent activation of cell division leading to primordium formation represent two genetically separable events. Time-lapse experiments show that the activation of an auxin response is the earliest detectable event in founder cell specification. Accordingly, local activation of auxin response correlates absolutely with the acquisition of founder cell identity and precedes the actual formation of a lateral root primordium through patterned cell division. Local production and subsequent accumulation of auxin in single pericycle cells induced by Cre-Lox-based activation of auxin synthesis converts them into founder cells. Thu...