Plants germinated from larger seeds are generally more resistant to abiotic stress, but how is the crosstalk between the signalling pathways that are responsible for stress tolerance and seed size determination coordinated? In this issue (p. 3922), Aizhong Liu, Lai-Sheng Meng and colleagues identify auxin response factor 2 (ARF2) as a key regulator at the intersection of abscisic acid (ABA) signalling in response to drought, and a new pathway, which also involves the transcription factor AINTEGUMENTA (ANT) and COLD-REGULATED 15A (COR15a), that is also involved in the response to drought. They discover that loss-of-function Arf2 mutants and ANT-overexpressing transformants have larger seeds and are more drought resistant than wild-type plants. By contrast, Cor15a-knockout plants have smaller seeds, and this phenotype prevails when crossed to ANT-overexpressing or Arf2 mutant plants. Furthermore, the authors find that ARF2 negatively regulates ANT expression by binding directly in the ANT promoter, whereas ANT binds in the COR15a promoter to increase COR15A expression. Importantly, dysregulation of ABA signalling and disruption of the crosstalk between the ABA and auxin pathways underlie the stress tolerance and large seed phenotypes of Arf2 mutant and ANT-overexpressing plants. Thus, by showing that ABA signalling is sensed by an ARF2–ANT–COR15A pathway that regulates both stress resistance and seed size, this study offers important new insights to help explain why drought tolerance in seedlings correlates with an increased mass of their seeds.
ARF and ABA-out stress resistance and seed size
- Split-screen
- Views Icon Views
-
Article Versions Icon
Versions
- Version of Record 01 November 2015
- Share Icon Share
-
Tools Icon
Tools
- Search Site
ARF and ABA-out stress resistance and seed size. J Cell Sci 1 November 2015; 128 (21): e2103. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers - Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease
We are welcoming submissions for our upcoming special issue: Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease. This issue will be coordinated by two Guest Editors: Pleasantine Mill (University of Edinburgh) and Lotte Pedersen (University of Copenhagen). Submission deadline: 1 March 2025.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025
We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register your interest to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Principles and regulation of mechanosensing
Mechanics play a fundamental role in cell physiology and represent physical mechanisms which cells use to influence function from the molecular to tissue scale. In this Review, Stefano Sala and colleagues clearly define mechanosensing and mechanotransduction, illustrate various mechanosensing mechanisms and discuss methods that cells use to regulate these processes.
JCS-FocalPlane Training Grants
Early-career researchers - working in an area covered by JCS - who would like to attend a microscopy training course, please apply. Deadline dates for 2024 applications: 7 September (decision by week commencing 8 October 2024); 22 November (decision by week commencing 16 December).
HIV-1 assembly – when virology meets biophysics
Claire Lacouture and colleagues review mechanisms of assembly of the HIV-1 structural protein Gag from biophysical and biological perspectives. The researchers highlight how HIV-1 Gag hijacks host cell factors associated with cortical actin machinery to make new viral particles.