title: Roles of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in root hair growth.
abstract: The root hair is a model system for understanding plant cell tip growth. As phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate [PtdIns(3)P] has been shown in other plant cell types to regulate factors that affect root hair growth, including reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, cytoskeleton, and endosomal movement, we hypothesized that PtdIns(3)P is also important for root hair elongation. The enzyme that generates PtdIns(3)P, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), was expressed in root hair cells of transgenic plants containing the PI3K promoter:beta-glucuronidase reporter construct. To obtain genetic evidence for the role of PtdIns(3)P in root hair elongation, we attempted to isolate Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant plants that did not express the gene VPS34 encoding the PI3K enzyme. However, the homozygous mutant was lethal due to gametophytic defects, and heterozygous plants were not discernibly different from wild-type plants. Alternatively, we made transgenic plants expressing the PtdIns(3)P-binding FYVE domain in the root hair cell to block signal transduction downstream of PtdIns(3)P. These transgenic plants had shorter root hairs and a reduced hair growth rate compared with wild-type plants. In addition, LY294002, a PI3K-specific inhibitor, inhibited root hair elongation but not initiation. In LY294002-treated root hair cells, endocytosis at the stage of final fusion of the late endosomes to the tonoplast was inhibited and ROS level decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Surprisingly, the LY294002 effects on ROS and root hair elongation were similar in rhd2 mutant plants, suggesting that RHD2 was not the major ROS generator in the PtdIns(3)P-mediated root hair elongation process. Collectively, these results suggest that PtdIns(3)P is required for maintenance of the processes essential for root hair cell elongation.
authors.affiliation: POSTECH-UZH Global Research Laboratory, Division of Molecular Life Sciences, POSTECH, Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Yuree
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Gwangbae
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bak
authors.forename: Yunjung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Wen-I
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: Hyung-Taeg
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Youngsook
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002867:Chromones / Q000494:pharmacology; D017931:DNA Primers; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000187:drug effects; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009025:Morpholines / Q000494:pharmacology; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D000081082:Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D002867:Chromones; D017931:DNA Primers; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D009025:Morpholines; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D000081082:Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; C085911:2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one