Substantial evidence indicates that amino acid conjugates of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) function in auxin homeostasis, yet the plant enzymes involved in their biosynthesis have not been identified. We tested whether several Arabidopsis thaliana enzymes that are related to the auxin-induced soybean (Glycine max) GH3 gene product synthesize IAA-amino acid conjugates. In vitro reactions with six recombinant GH3 enzymes produced IAA conjugates with several amino acids, based on thin layer chromatography. The identity of the Ala, Asp, Phe, and Trp conjugates was verified by gas chromatographymass spectrometry. Insertional mutations in GH3.1, GH3.2, GH3.5, and GH3.17 resulted in modestly increased sensitivity to IAA in seedling root. Overexpression of GH3.6 in the activation-tagged mutant dfl1-D did not significantly alter IAA level but resulted in 3.2-and 4.5-fold more IAA-Asp than in wild-type seedlings and mature leaves, respectively. In addition to IAA, dfl1-D was less sensitive to indole-3-butyric acid and naphthaleneacetic acid, consistent with the fact that GH3.6 was active on each of these auxins. By contrast, GH3.6 and the other five enzymes tested were inactive on halogenated auxins, and dfl1-D was not resistant to these. This evidence establishes that several GH3 genes encode IAA-amido synthetases, which help to maintain auxin homeostasis by conjugating excess IAA to amino acids.

The Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. JASMONATE RESISTANT 1( JAR1) locus is essential for pathogen defense, but its role in wound response has not been investigated. JAR1 encodes an enzyme that conjugates jasmonic acid (JA) to isoleucine, which was recently shown to function directly in CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 (COI1)-mediated signal transduction. Leaf wounding rapidly increased the level of JA-Ile by about 60-fold to a peak of 279 pmole/g FW at 40 min after wounding. Conjugates with Leu, Val and Phe remained near basal level or were not detected. Kinetic analysis showed that JAR1 had a K (m) of 0.03 mM for Ile, which was 60-80-fold lower than for Leu, Val and Phe. JA-Ile accumulated mostly near the wound site with a minor increase in unwounded portions of wounded leaves. JAR1 transcript also increased dramatically in wounded tissue, reaching a maximum after about 1 h. In the jar1-1 mutant JA-Ile was only about 10% of the WT level at 40 min after leaf wounding, and reached a maximum of 47 pmole/g FW at 2 h. However, the reduced accumulation of JA-Ile had little or no effect on several jasmonate-dependent wound-induced genes. Wound induction of the VSP2 transcript was only slightly delayed while transcripts for LOX2, PDF1.2, WRKY33, TAT3 and CORI3 were unaffected. These results suggest that the rapid increase in JA-Ile mediated by the JAR1 enzyme plays only a minor role in transcriptional modulation of genes induced by mechanical wounding.

Maize has for many decades been both one of the most important crops worldwide and one of the primary genetic model organisms. More recently, maize breeding has been impacted by rapid technological advances in sequencing and genotyping technology, transformation including genome editing, doubled haploid technology, parallelled by progress in data sciences and the development of novel breeding approaches utilizing genomic information. Herein, we report on past, current and future developments relevant for maize breeding with regard to (1) genome analysis, (2) germplasm diversity characterization and utilization, (3) manipulation of genetic diversity by transformation and genome editing, (4) inbred line development and hybrid seed production, (5) understanding and prediction of hybrid performance, (6) breeding methodology and (7) synthesis of opportunities and challenges for future maize breeding.

Jasmonoyl-L-isoleucine (JA-Ile) is a key jasmonate signal that probably functions in all plant species. The JASMONATE RESISTANT 1 (JAR1) enzyme synthesizes JA-Ile in Arabidopsis [Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.], but a similar enzyme from tomato [Solanum lycopersicum (L.)] was not previously described. Tomato SlJAR1 has 66% sequence identity with Arabidopsis JAR1 and the SlJAR1-GST fusion protein purified from Escherichia coli catalyzed the formation of JA-amino acid conjugates in vitro. Kinetic analysis showed the enzyme has a strong preference for Ile over Leu and Val and it was about 10-fold more active with (+)-7-iso-JA than with its epimer (-)-JA. Leaf wounding rapidly increased JA-Ile 50-fold to about 450 pmol g(-1) FW at 30 min after wounding, while conjugates with Leu, Phe, Val and Met were only marginally increased or not detected. Nearly all of the endogenous JA-Ile was the bioactive epimer (+)-7-iso-JA-Ile and there was no evidence for its conversion to (-)-JA-Ile up to 6 h after wounding. A transgenic RNAi approach was used to suppress SlJAR1 transcript that reduced JA-Ile accumulation by 50-75%, suggesting that other JA conjugating enzymes may be present. These results show that SlJAR1 synthesizes the bioactive conjugate (+)-7-iso-JA-Ile and this is the predominant isomer accumulated in wounded tomato leaves.