1. Rootin, a compound that inhibits root development through modulating PIN-mediated auxin distribution
- Author
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Moon-Soo Soh, Hyunmo Choi, Pyung Ok Lim, S. Jeong, Hye Ryun Woo, Hyunmin Kim, Young-Tae Chang, Ilhwan Lee, Jun-Young Kim, and Hong Gil Nam
- Subjects
Cell division ,Arabidopsis ,Plant Science ,Plant Roots ,Plant Growth Regulators ,Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ,Auxin ,Botany ,Genetics ,Transcriptional regulation ,Gene ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,Indoleacetic Acids ,biology ,Arabidopsis Proteins ,Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ,Membrane Transport Proteins ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,Cell biology ,chemistry ,Seedlings ,Shoot ,Agronomy and Crop Science ,Chemical genetics ,Genetic screen - Abstract
Plant roots anchor the plant to the soil and absorb water and nutrients for growth. Understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating root development is essential for improving plant survival and agricultural productivity. Extensive molecular genetic studies have provided important information on crucial components for the root development control over the last few decades. However, it is becoming difficult to identify new regulatory components in root development due to the functional redundancy and lethality of genes involved in root development. In this study, we performed a chemical genetic screen to identify novel synthetic compounds that regulate root development in Arabidopsis seedlings. The screen yielded a root growth inhibitor designated as ‘rootin’, which inhibited Arabidopsis root development by modulating cell division and elongation, but did not significantly affect shoot development. Transcript analysis of phytohormone marker genes revealed that rootin preferentially altered the expression of auxin-regulated genes. Furthermore, rootin reduced the accumulation of PIN1, PIN3, and PIN7 proteins, and affected the auxin distribution in roots, which consequently may lead to the observed defects in root development. Our results suggest that rootin could be utilized to unravel the mechanisms underlying root development and to investigate dynamic changes in PIN-mediated auxin distribution.
- Published
- 2015