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Growth and development of plant body is dependent on correct and effective integration of information about current deployment of its body parts, as well as on perception and transduction of inputs from environment. Multiple developmental processes within plant body are determined by specific and tightly controlled distribution of molecule with unique signaling mission within plant development - auxin. Spatial distribution of auxin is co-determined by plethora of tightly controlled processes, and the polar auxin transport plays unique role among them. PIN proteins are the plant-specific family of secondary transporters driving movement of auxin across membranes. With their frequent asymmetrical localization within cells, specific expression patterns in developing tissues and their reactiveness to external cues they secure unique, dynamic and asymmetric distribution of auxin within the plant body. This dissertation thesis is focused on characterization of the role different PIN proteins play in determining cellular auxin homeostasis and consequent formation of auxin gradients. Controlled overexpression of PIN proteins in tobacco cells showed, that PIN4 and to some extent also PIN6, function as the direct auxin efflux carriers. In the cellular auxin transport they play the role analogous to other...

The non-uniform distribution of the plant growth regulator (phytohormone) auxin is known to mediate many fundamental processes in plant development. Auxin is transported through the plant body either via vascular pathways or from cell to cell by specialized polar auxin transport machinery. This machinery consists of a balanced system of passive diffusion combined with the activities of auxin influx and efflux carriers. This work is focused on the processes that are involved in the uptake of auxin into plant cells. On the basis of molecular-biological and biochemical characterization, the function as an auxin influx carrier was confirmed for PaLAX1 protein from wild cherry (Prunus avium). The sequences of isolated cDNA of the PaLAX1 gene and of its protein product are highly similar to both the cDNAs and the corresponding protein products of the AUX1/LAX-type genes, coding for putative auxin influx carriers in model plant A. thaliana. On the level of organs and single cells, we have shown that the overproduction of PaLAX1 in transgenic lines resulted in an increase of the content of native auxin indole-3-acetic acid as well as of the uptake of synthetic auxin, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Further, the mechanism of action of putative auxin influx inhibitors 1-naphthoxyacetic acid (1-NOA),...

in English Plants with their sessile life-style are exposed to many stimuli from environment. They have developed mechanisms how to coordinate their growth and development, which allows them to survive sometimes in very difficult conditions. Plant hormones are one of the most important regulators of this signal transduction. Auxins, as the oldest known group of plant hormones, play important role in many physiological processes in plants. To allow perceiving the information in every single cell, auxin molecule is transported by cell-to-cell manner. Auxin molecules enter the cell by passive diffusion or by active uptake by auxin influx carriers. To reach the next cell, they are transported actively out of the cell by auxin efflux carriers. Athough active auxin transport has been studied for almost four decades, past two decades contributed to the identification and characterization of particular auxin carriers remarkably. This thesis contributes to the knowledge on the auxin efflux and influx carriers and their involvement in the processes occurring from a single cell level to the level of a whole plant. Firstly, it brings detailed description of auxin transport characteristics in Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cells (Ath cells). Secondly, it shows that the overproduction of PIN1 auxin efflux...

In multicellular organisms, programmed cell death (PCD) is an essential mechanism during development, morphogenesis and during the interaction with the environment. The regulation of PCD is highly regulated and conserved throughout the evolution. Animal apoptosis is the best described PCD type which is characterized by the condensation of cytoplasm, specific DNA fragmentation and the formation of apoptotic bodies which are finally engulfed by neighboring cells. Due to the structural specificities of plant cells, plant PCD exhibits rather autophagic character. In mammals, DSBs-induced PCD is mainly governed by ATM kinase. This response also involves downstream ATM effectors like p53 and E2F factors. P53 stabilization leads to the cell cycle arrest in G1/S whereas E2F can promote apoptosis by activating PCD-related genes including caspases. PCD could be induced also by E2F ectopic expression. In spite of a conservation of PCD signaling among Eukaryotes, number of animal PCD regulators was not identified in plants (caspases, p53), thus in plants the PCD response induced by DSBs is still poorly understood. On the contrary, E2F transcriptional factor is conserved between animals and plants but its role during plant PCD was not evaluated till now. The main goal of my thesis was to characterize the PCD in...

1. ABSTRACT An actin cytoskeleton comprises an essential cytoskeletal structure that organizes a cytoplasm during number of processes occurring in animal and plant cells, such as cell division and growth, formation of membrane protrusions and cellular movement or cytoplasmic streaming. A dynamic actin net and an exact spatial and temporal actin filament organization is, therefore, necessary for correct growth processes and development of multicellular organism. Depolymerization and re-establishment of actin arrays is mediated by actin associated proteins. Among them, an Arp2/3 complex (actin related protein 2 and 3) plays an important role as a catalyst of the actin filament nucleation and, thus, enables the formation of dynamic actin network. In non-plant cells, Arp2/3 complex-dependent polymerization of actin filaments is required for movement of whole cells (fibroblasts or keratocytes), it drives organels and pathogens throughout the cell or mediates endocytic processes. The role of the Arp2/3 complex in non-motile plant cells is despite the considerable effort over last three years far from being understood. Unlike animals, where loss-of-function mutations in the Arp2/3 complex are lethal, only limited number of cell types show significant phenotype in Arabidopsis mutants. The evidence exists that the...