Signals leading to mycorrhizal differentiation are largely unknown. We have studied the sensitivity of the root system from plant model Arabidopsis thaliana to hypaphorine, the major indolic compound isolated from the basidiomycetous fungus Pisolithus tinctorius. This fungi establishes ectomycorrhizas with Eucalyptus globulus. Hypaphorine controls root hair elongation and counteracts the activity of indole-3-acetic acid on root elongation on A. thaliana, as previously reported for the host plant. In addition, we show that hypaphorine counteracts the rapid upregulation by indole-3-acetic acid and 1-naphthalenic-acetic acid of the primary auxin-responsive gene IAA1 and induces a rapid, transient membrane depolarization in root hairs and suspension cells, due to the modulation of anion and K+ currents. These early responses indicate that components necessary for symbiosis-related differentiation events are present in the nonhost plant A. thaliana and provide tools for the dissection of the hypaphorine-auxin interaction.

In Arabidopsis suspension cells a rapid plasma membrane depolarization is triggered by abscisic acid (ABA). Activation of anion channels was shown to be a component leading to this ABA-induced plasma membrane depolarization. Using experiments employing combined voltage clamping, continuous measurement of extracellular pH, we examined whether plasma membrane H 1 -ATPases could also be involved in the depolarization. We found that ABA causes simultaneously cell depolarization and medium alkalinization, the second effect being abolished when ABA is added in the presence of H 1 pump inhibitors. Inhibition of the proton pump by ABA is thus a second component leading to the plasma membrane depolarization. The ABA-induced depolarization is therefore the result of two different processes: activation of anion channels and inhibition of H 1 -ATPases. These two processes are independent because impairing one did not suppress the depolarization. Both processes are however dependent on the [Ca 21 ] cyt increase induced by ABA since increase in [Ca 21 ] cyt enhanced anion channels and impaired H 1 -ATPases.Abscisic acid (ABA) induces the depolarization of the plasma membrane (Thiel et al., 1992). This depolarization has been interpreted as the consequence of the activation of anion channels in stomatal guard cells of Vicia faba (Blatt, 1990;Schroeder and Keller, 1992;Thiel et al., 1992;Ward et al., 1995), Nicotiana benthamiana and Commelina communis (Schwartz et al., 1995;Leonhardt et al., 1999). In addition, we demonstrated that the extracellular perception of ABA in Arabidopsis suspension cells was necessary for the activation of anion channels inducing the plasma membrane depolarization (Ghelis et al., 2000a), and recently we showed that this anion channel stimulation induced by extracellular ABA perception was dependent on phospholipase D activities (Hallouin et al., 2002). In guard cells that are the most studied plant cell model used for the dissection of ABA signaling pathways (Assmann, 1993;Schroeder et al., 2001), two distinct anion channels, rapid anion channels (R-type) and slow anion channels (S-type), were proposed to participate in the plasma membrane depolarization (Schroeder and Keller, 1992;. Both R-type and S-type channels have been suggested to contribute to an initial phase of the depolarization, while maintenance of the depolarized state of the plasma membrane was only attributed to the S-type anion channels (Schroeder and Keller, 1992). The mechanisms by which ABA activates anion channels are not entirely understood . In V. faba guard cells, activation of anion channels by ABA can be observed without variation of the cytoplasm calcium concentration, suggesting that the ABA-induced anion efflux is calcium-independent (Schwarz and Schroeder, 1998). However, numerous data support the calcium dependence of the anion channel activation in response to ABA. Some of the anion channels involved in a long-term plasma membrane depolarization are Ca 21 -sensitive and therefore are activated by an increase in cyto...

Oxalic acid is thought to be a key factor of the early pathogenicity stage in a wide range of necrotrophic fungi. Studies were conducted to determine whether oxalate could induce programmed cell death (PCD) in Arabidopsis thaliana suspension cells and to detail the transduction of the signalling pathway induced by oxalate. Arabidopsis thaliana cells were treated with millimolar concentrations of oxalate. Cell death was quantified and ion flux variations were analysed from electrophysiological measurements. Involvement of the anion channel and ethylene in the signal transduction leading to PCD was determined by using specific inhibitors. Oxalic acid induced a PCD displaying cell shrinkage and fragmentation of DNA into internucleosomal fragments with a requirement for active gene expression and de novo protein synthesis, characteristic hallmarks of PCD. Other responses generally associated with plant cell death, such as anion effluxes leading to plasma membrane depolarization, mitochondrial depolarization, and ethylene synthesis, were also observed following addition of oxalate. The results show that oxalic acid activates an early anionic efflux which is a necessary prerequisite for the synthesis of ethylene and for the PCD in A. thaliana cells.