The Arabidopsis WAVY GROWTH 2 protein modulates root bending in response to environmental stimuli.
To understand how the direction of root growth changes in response to obstacles, light, and gravity, we characterized an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant, wavy growth 2 (wav2), whose roots show a short-pitch pattern of wavy growth on inclined agar medium. The roots of the wav2 mutant bent with larger curvature than those of the wild-type seedlings in wavy growth and in gravitropic and phototropic responses. The cell file rotations of the root epidermis of wav2-1 in the wavy growth pattern were enhanced in both right-handed and left-handed rotations. WAV2 encodes a protein belonging to the BUD EMERGENCE 46 family with a transmembrane domain at the N terminus and an alpha/beta-hydrolase domain at the C terminus. Expression analyses showed that mRNA of WAV2 was expressed strongly in adult plant roots and seedlings, especially in the root tip, the cell elongation zone, and the stele. Our results suggest that WAV2 is not involved in sensing environmental stimuli but that it negatively regulates stimulus-induced root bending through inhibition of root tip rotation.
Mochizuki
Susumu
S
RIKEN Plant Science Center, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan.
Harada
Akiko
A
Inada
Sayaka
S
Sugimoto-Shirasu
Keiko
K
Stacey
Nicola
N
Wada
Takuji
T
Ishiguro
Sumie
S
Okada
Kiyotaka
K
Sakai
Tatsuya
T
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018522:Gravitropism; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D018524:Phototropism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C505422:WAV2 protein, Arabidopsis; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins