Auxin perception--structural insights.
The identity of the auxin receptor(s) and the mechanism of auxin perception has been a subject of intense interest since the discovery of auxin almost a century ago. The development of genetic approaches to the study of plant hormone signaling led to the discovery that auxin acts by promoting degradation of transcriptional repressors called Aux/IAA proteins. This process requires a ubiquitin protein ligase (E3) called SCF(TIR1) and related SCF complexes. Surprisingly, auxin works by directly binding to TIR1, the F-box protein subunit of this SCF. Structural studies demonstrate that auxin acts like a "molecular glue," to stabilize the interaction between TIR1 and the Aux/IAA substrate. These exciting results solve an old problem in plant biology and reveal new mechanisms for E3 regulation and hormone perception.
Calderon-Villalobos
Luz Irina
LI
Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
Tan
Xu
X
Zheng
Ning
N
Estelle
Mark
M
D006868:Hydrolysis; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
D007210:Indoleacetic Acids