Developmental plasticity is one of the most striking features of plant morphogenesis, as plants are able to vary their shapes in response to environmental cues. Biotic or abiotic stimuli often promote organogenesis events in plants not observed under normal growth conditions. Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are known to parasitize multiple species of rooting plants and to induce characteristic tissue expansion called galls or root-knots on the roots of their hosts by perturbing the plant cellular machinery. Galls contain giant cells (GCs) and neighboring cells, and the GCs are a source of nutrients for the parasitizing nematode. Highly active cell proliferation was observed in galls. However, the underlying mechanisms that regulate the symptoms triggered by the plant-nematode interaction have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we deciphered the molecular mechanism of gall formation with an in vitro infection assay system using RKN Meloidogyne incognita, and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. By taking advantages of this system, we performed next-generation sequencing-based transcriptome profiling, and found that the expression of procambium identity-associated genes were enriched during gall formation. Clustering analyses with artificial xylogenic systems, together with the results of expression analyses of the candidate genes, showed a significant correlation between the induction of gall cells and procambium-associated cells. Furthermore, the promoters of several procambial marker genes such as ATHB8, TDR and WOX4 were activated not only in M. incognita-induced galls, but similarly in M. javanica induced-galls and Heterodera schachtii-induced syncytia. Our findings suggest that phytoparasitic nematodes modulate the host’s developmental regulation of the vascular stem cells during gall formation.
The Orchidaceae is one of the most famous garden plants, and improvement of the orchid is very important in horticulture field. However, molecular information is largely unknown. We found a Phalaenopsis variety harboring floral organs showing C class homeotic change. Column is composed of the anthers with the receptive stigmatic surface just underneath them in wild type. However the C class variety produced column with sepal or petal like structure at the abaxial side. This is the typical abnormality as C class mutants in plants. Further, wild type looking revertant was found from the meristem tissue cultured population. This result strongly indicates the existence of active transposable element in Phalaenopsis genome. This transposon may enable Phalaenopsis as a good material for molecular genetic analysis in Orchidaceae.
Lateral root formation in Arabidopsis provides a model for the study of auxin function. Tryptophan (Trp) is a precursor of the auxin indoleacetic acid (IAA). To study the physiological function of Trp in auxin-related phenotypes, we examined the effect of Trp on lateral root formation. We found that Trp treatment enhanced lateral root formation and, by screening for mutants in which the effect of Trp on lateral root formation was enhanced, we isolated the mm31 mutant. Based on genetic and physiological analyses, we propose that MM31/EIR1 modulates lateral root formation by regulating the IAA polar transport system, and that auxin transport from the shoot to the root regulates lateral root formation.
MM31/EIR1 promotes lateral root formation in ArabidopsisHiroaki Honda, † Ryota Hamasaki, † Chika Ejima, Noriko Shimizu, Shunsuke Kiyohara and Shinichiro Sawa* Graduate School of Science and Technology; Kumamoto University; Kurokami, Kumamoto Japan † These authors contributed equally to this work.
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