SLR/IAA14-dependent auxin induced lateral root initiation

Lateral root initiation was used as a model system to study the mechanisms behind auxin-induced cell division. Genome-wide transcriptional changes were monitored during the early steps of lateral root initiation. Inclusion of the dominant auxin signaling mutant solitary root1 (slr1) identified genes involved in lateral root initiation that act downstream of the AUX/IAA signaling pathway. Interestingly, key components of the cell cycle machinery were strongly defective in slr1, suggesting a direct link between AUX/IAA signaling and core cell cycle regulation. However, induction of the cell cycle in the mutant background by overexpression of the D-type cyclin (CYCD3;1) was able to trigger complete rounds of cell division in the pericycle that did not result in lateral root formation. Therefore, lateral root initiation can only take place when cell cycle activation is accompanied by cell fate respecification of pericycle cells. The microarray data also yielded evidence for the existence of both negative and positive feedback mechanisms that regulate auxin homeostasis and signal transduction in the pericycle, thereby fine-tuning the process of lateral root initiation. Keywords: time-course wild type vs mutant comparison Seedlings of both wild type (Col-0) and the lateral root defective mutant (slr-1) were germinated on MS medium supplemented with 10μM NPA (=auxin transport inhibitor). Three days after germination, such seedlings were transferred to MS supplemented with 10μM NAA for 0h, 2h and 6h respectively. The segment between root meristem and root-hypocotyl junction was harvested from about 1500 seedling per time point. All treatments were repeated biologically. 5.8 μg total RNA was used for the preparation of biotinylated cRNA. Labeled RNA was hybridised to ATH1 Affymetrix chips. The resulting data was MAS5.0 normalised.