• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.813-817
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• 2010

Plants undergo cell division throughout their life in order to maintain their growth. It is well known that root and shoot tip of plants possess meristems, which contain quiescent cells. Fluridone (1-methyl-3-phenyl-5-(3-trifluromethyl (phenyl))-4-(1H)-pyridinone) is an established inhibitor of both ABA and carotenoid biosynthesis. However, the other functions of fluridone remain undiscovered. In this report, we provide experimental evidence that fluridone plays a role in the division of the quiescent centre of the Arabidopsis root meristem. This study examined the effects of exogenous fluridone and ABA on the development of the stem cell niche in Arabidopsis root. We show that fluridone promoted the division of stem cells in the quiescent centre, whereas exogenous ABA suppressed quiescent centre division. Furthermore, we established a novel regulatory function for fluridone by demonstrating that it plays an important role in postembryonic development.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1033-1044
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• 2018

As sessile organisms, plants have evolved to adjust their growth and development to environmental changes. It has been well documented that the crosstalk between different plant hormones plays important roles in the coordination of growth and development of the plant. Here, we describe a novel recessive mutant, mildly insensitive to ethylene (mine), which displayed insensitivity to the ethylene precursor, ACC (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid), in the root under the dark-grown conditions. By contrast, mine roots exhibited a normal growth response to exogenous IAA (indole-3-acetic acid). Thus, it appears that the growth responses of mine to ACC and IAA resemble those of weak ethylene insensitive (wei) mutants. To understand the molecular events underlying the crosstalk between ethylene and auxin in the root, we identified the MINE locus and found that the MINE gene encodes the pyridoxine 5′-phosphate (PNP)/pyridoxamine 5′-phosphate (PMP) oxidase, PDX3. Our results revealed that MINE/PDX3 likely plays a role in the conversion of the auxin precursor tryptophan to indole-3-pyruvic acid in the auxin biosynthesis pathway, in which TAA1 (TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE OF ARABIDOPSIS 1) and its related genes (TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE RELATED 1 and 2; TAR1 and TAR2) are involved. Considering that TAA1 and TARs belong to a subgroup of PLP (pyridoxal-5′-phosphate)-dependent enzymes, we propose that PLP produced by MINE/PDX3 acts as a cofactor in TAA1/TAR-dependent auxin biosynthesis induced by ethylene, which in turn influences the crosstalk between ethylene and auxin in the Arabidopsis root.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.387-393
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• 2000

The process by which Agrobacterium tumefaciens genetically transforms plants involves a complex series of reactions communicated between the pathogen and the plants. To identify plant factors involved in agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation, a large number of T-DNA inserted Arabidopsis thaliana mutant lines were investigated for susceptibility to Agrobacterium infection by using an in vitro root inoculation assay. Based on the phenotype of tumorigenesis, twelve T-DNA inserted Arabidopsis mutants(rat) that were resistant to Agrobacterium transformation were found. Three mutants, rat1, rat3, and rat4 were characterized in detail. They showed low transient GUS activity and very low stable transformation efficiency compared to the wild-type plant. The resistance phenotype of rat1 and rats resulted from decreased attachment of Agrobacterium tumefaciens to inoculated root explants. They may be deficient in plant actors that are necessary for bacterial attachment to plant cells. The disrupted genes in rat1, rat3, and rat4 mutants were coding a arabinogalactan protein, a likely cell wall protein and a cellulose synthase-like protein, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.48-53
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• 2010

Water-uptake through roots, is an essential process of the water flow in plants. Its visualization is very useful for understanding sap flow dynamics at whole plant level. In this study, the tips of Arabidopsis' root hairs were excised and exposed to repeated dehydration and rehydration processes. The water-refilling through individual xylem vessels was visualized using the synchrotron X-ray micro-imaging technique. The high temporal resolution ($2\;{\mu}m$) and beam intensity of the X-ray source allowed to acquisition of consecutive X-ray images of the water-refilling process up to 10 frames/sec. Various flow patterns were observed and the ascending speed of the water-air interfaces was analyzed. The relation between the water-rising height and ascending speed was also analyzed. The present results would provide better alternative for investigating sap flows in roots.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.333-343
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• 2009

Here, we show that an endophytic bacterial strain, Enterobacter asburiae B1 exhibits the ability to elicit ISR in cucumber, tobacco and Arabidopsis thaliana. This indicates that strain B1 has a widespread ability to elicit ISR on various host plants. In this study, E. asburiae strain B1 did not show antifungal activity against tested major fungal pathogens, Colletotrichum orbiculare, Botrytis cinerea, Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani, and Fusarium oxysporum. Moreover, the siderophore production by E. asburiae strain B1 was observed under in vitro condition. In greenhouse experiments, the root treatment of strain B1 significantly reduced disease severity of cucumber anthracnose caused by fungal pathogen C. orbiculare compared to nontreated control plants. By root treatment of strain B1 more than 50% disease control against anthracnose on cucumber was observed in all greenhouse experiments. Simultaneously, under the greenhouse condition, the soil drench of strain B1 and a chemical inducer benzothiadiazole (BTH) to tobacco plants induced GUS activity which is linked with activation of PR promoter gene. Furthermore, in Arabidopsis thaliana plants the soil drench of strain B1 induced the defense gene expression of PR1 and PDF1.2 related to salicylic acid and jasmonic acid/ethylene signaling pathways, respectively. In this study, for the main focus on root colonization by strain B1 associated with defense responses, bacterial cells of strain B1 was tagged with the gfp gene encoding the green fluorescent protein in order to determine the colonization pattern of strain B1 in cucumber. The gfp-tagged B1 cells were found on root surface and internal colonization in root, stem, and leaf. In addition to this, the scanning electron microscopy observation showed that E. asburiae strain B1 was able to colonized cucumber root surface.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.319-325
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• 2002

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of heavy metals (copper, cadmium, lead and chrome) on the growth of plant and seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana treated with various concentrations of heavy metals. Cadmium and chrome among the 4 heavy metals had no effect on the growth of stem even in the concentration fifty times higher than the official standard concentration of pollutant exhaust notified by the Ministry of Environment. The official standard concentration of cadmium, however, stimulated the growth of stem in general, increasing leaf size and surface area, although it had no effect on the length of stem. But the growth of stem was decreased about 18% in the official standard concentration of pollutant exhaust of lead and copper. There was no growth of root in the concentration of lead and copper ten times higher than the official standard concentration. Cadmium and chrome had no effect on the seed germination, but lead and copper decreased the rate of seed germination. Seeds were not germinated in the concentration of copper ten times higher than the official standard concentration and in the concentration of lead fifty times higher than the official standard concentration. From this research three peculiar results were obtained. Chrome in the soil did not have much effect on the plant growth and seed germination of Arabidopsis thaliana. Cadmium stimulated the stem growth in an optimum concentration. But lead and copper reduced the plant growth and seed germination even in a small concentration, especially copper had the worse effect.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.225-234
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• 2011

Arabidopsis mutants with T-DNA insertion in seven calmodulin genes (CAM) were used to determine the specific role of CAM in the tolerance of plants to oxidative stress induced by paraquat and hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) treatments. Arabidopsis calmodulin mutants (cam) were screened for seedling growth, seed germination, induced oxidative damage, and levels of ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) shunt metabolites. Only the cam5-4 and cam6-1 mutants exhibited an increased sensitivity to paraquat and $H_2O_2$ during seed germination and seedling growth. In response to treatments with $3{\mu}M$ paraquat and 1 mM $H_2O_2$, only the cam5-4, cam6-1 mutants showed significant changes in malonaldehyde (MDA) levels in root and shoot tissues, with highly increased levels of MDA. In terms of the GABA shunt metabolites, GABA was significantly elevated in root and shoot tissues in response to the paraquat treatments in comparison to alanine and glutamate, while the levels of all shunt metabolites increased in root tissue but not in the shoot tissue following the $H_2O_2$ treatments. GABA, alanine and glutamate levels were significantly increased in root and shoot of the cam1, cam4, cam5-4, and cam6-1 mutants in response to paraquat (0.5, 1 and $3{\mu}M$), while they were increased only in the root tissue of the cam1, cam4, cam5-4, and cam6-1 mutants in response to $H_2O_2$ (200 and $500{\mu}M$, 1 mM). These data show that the cam5-4 and cam6-1 mutants were sensitive to the induced oxidative stress treatments in terms of seed germination, seedling growth, and oxidative damage. The accumulation of GABA shunt metabolites as a consequence of the induced oxidative stress treatments (paraquat and $H_2O_2$ treatments) suggests that the GABA shunt pathway and the accumulation of GABA metabolites may contribute in antioxidant machinery associated with reactive oxygen species and in the acquisition of tolerance in response to induced oxidative stress in Arabidopsis seedlings.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.202-206
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• 2012

Root colonization by the rhizobacterium Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6 in Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 plants resulted in induced tolerance to drought and salinity caused by halide salt-generated ionic stress but not by osmotic stress caused by sorbitol. Stomatal apertures decreased following root colonization by P. chlororaphis O6 in both wild-type and ABA-insensitive Arabidopsis mutant plants. These results suggest that an ABA-independent stomatal closure mechanism in the guard cells of P. chlororaphis O6-colonized plants could be a key phenotype for induced systemic tolerance to drought and salt stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.174-174
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• 2017

To cope with phosphate (Pi) deficient stress, plants modulate various physiological and developmental processes, such as gene expression, Pi uptake and translocation, and root architecture changes. Here, we report the identification and characterization of novel activation-tagged mutant involved in Pi starvation signaling in Arabidopsis. The hpd (${\underline{h}ypersensitive}$ to ${\underline{P}i}$ $ {\underline{d}eficiency}$) mutant exhibits enhanced phosphate uptake and altered root architectural change under Pi starvation compared to wild type. Expression analysis of auxin-responsive DR5::GUS reporter gene in hpd mutant indicated that auxin translocation in roots under Pi starvation are suppressed in hpd mutant plants. Impaired auxin translocation in roots of hpd mutant was attributable to abnormal root architecture changes in Pi starvation conditions. Our results indicated that abnormal auxin translocation in hpd mutant might be due to mis-regulation of auxin efflux carrier proteins, PIN-FORMED (PIN) 1, and 2 under Pi starvation conditions. Not only expression levels but also expression domains of PIN proteins were altered in hpd mutant in response to Pi starvation. Molecular genetic analysis of hpd mutant revealed that the mutant phenotype is caused by the lesion in ENHANCED SILENCING PHENOTYPE4 (ESP4) gene whose function is proposed in mRNA 3'-end processing. The results suggest that mRNA processing plays crucial roles in Pi homeostasis as well as developmental reprograming in response to Pi deprivation in Arabidopsis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.681-686
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• 2012

Light, one of the environmental stimuli, is fundamental to the growth and development of plants. Red and far-red light are sensed using the phytochrome family of plant photoreceptors. To investigate the effect of light on root growth and gravitropism, we used the Arabidopsis phytochrome mutants grown in several light conditions. The root growth of $phyA$ reared in all light conditions except white light and was stimulated compared to the WT. The stimulation of root growth was obvious in $phyA$ grown in red light. On the other hand, the root growth of $phyB$ grown in all light conditions decreased, and the lowest rate of decrease was observed in $phyAB$ grown in white and red light. The gravitropic response of $phyA$ was stimulated compared to the WT when it was grown in all light conditions except far-red light. $PhyAB$ grown in all light conditions showed the inhibition of gravitropic response. The transcript level of ACS, one of the enzymes regulating ethylene biosynthesis, increased in $phyA$ grown in white and red light, but not in $phyA$ grown in far-red light. In conclusion, these results suggested that the $P_{fr}$ form of $phyB$ regulates the root growth and gravitropism.