title: Adaptation of Root Function by Nutrient-Induced Plasticity of Endodermal Differentiation.
abstract: Plant roots forage the soil for minerals whose concentrations can be orders of magnitude away from those required for plant cell function. Selective uptake in multicellular organisms critically requires epithelia with extracellular diffusion barriers. In plants, such a barrier is provided by the endodermis and its Casparian strips--cell wall impregnations analogous to animal tight and adherens junctions. Interestingly, the endodermis undergoes secondary differentiation, becoming coated with hydrophobic suberin, presumably switching from an actively absorbing to a protective epithelium. Here, we show that suberization responds to a wide range of nutrient stresses, mediated by the stress hormones abscisic acid and ethylene. We reveal a striking ability of the root to not only regulate synthesis of suberin, but also selectively degrade it in response to ethylene. Finally, we demonstrate that changes in suberization constitute physiologically relevant, adaptive responses, pointing to a pivotal role of the endodermal membrane in nutrient homeostasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: marie.barberon@unil.ch.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barberon
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Joop Engelbertus Martinus
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Vermeer
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Electron Microscopy Facility, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Bellis
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sadaf
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naseer
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tonni Grube
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy Facility, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bruno Martin
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Humbel
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nawrath
authors.affiliation: Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan.
authors.forename: Junpei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK.
authors.forename: David Edward
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Salt
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: niko.geldner@unil.ch.
authors.forename: Niko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Geldner
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000378:metabolism; D005452:Fluoresceins / Q000032:analysis; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D005030:Ethylenes; D005452:Fluoresceins; D008055:Lipids; D000040:Abscisic Acid; C065875:suberin; C036216:ethylene; C018506:diacetylfluorescein