Auxology: when auxin meets plant evo-devo.
Auxin is implicated throughout plant growth and development. Although the effects of this plant hormone have been recognized for more than a century, it is only in the past two decades that light has been shed on the molecular mechanisms that regulate auxin homeostasis, signaling, transport, crosstalk with other hormonal pathways as well as its roles in plant development. These discoveries established a molecular framework to study the role of auxin in land plant evolution. Here, we review recent advances in auxin biology and their implications in both micro- and macro-evolution of plant morphology. By analogy to the term 'hoxology', which refers to the critical role of HOX genes in metazoan evolution, we propose to introduce the term 'auxology' to take into account the crucial role of auxin in plant evo-devo.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. cedric.finet@ens-lyon.org
Cédric
C
Finet
Yvon
Y
Jaillais
D005075:Biological Evolution; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
D007210:Indoleacetic Acids