title: The role of SEUSS in auxin response and floral organ patterning.
abstract: Genetic and physiological analyses implicate auxin flux in patterning, initiation and growth of floral organs. Within the Arabidopsis flower, the ETTIN/ARF3 transcription factor responds to auxin to effect perianth organ number and reproductive organ differentiation. This work describes a modifier of ettin that causes filamentous, mispositioned outer whorl organs and reduced numbers of malformed stamens in the double mutant. The modifier was discovered to be a new allele of the seuss (seu) mutant. SEU encodes a novel protein that is predicted to transcriptionally co-repress the AGAMOUS floral organ identity gene. The effects of seu on ett are shown to be independent of the SEU-AG pathway. Furthermore, morphological, physiological and genetic evidence implicate SEU in auxin-regulated growth and development. seu has a pleiotropic phenotype that includes reductions in several classic auxin responses such as apical dominance, lateral root initiation, sensitivity to exogenous auxin and activation of the DR5 auxin response reporter. seu displays a synergistic interaction with the auxin response mutant pinoid, producing flowers with few outer whorl organs. Collectively, these data suggest that SEU is a novel factor affecting auxin response. A model is proposed in which SEU functions jointly with ETT in auxin response to promote floral organ patterning and growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, 111 Koshland Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102, USA. jpfluger@nature.berkeley.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pfluger
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zambryski
mesh_terms: D026342:AGAMOUS Protein, Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000483:Alleles; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D019521:Body Patterning; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development; D017343:Genes, Plant; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype
chemical_list: D026342:AGAMOUS Protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D018744:DNA, Plant; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C109765:ETT protein, Arabidopsis; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C445880:SEUSS protein, Arabidopsis