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Ectopic expression of UGT84A2 delayed flowering by indole-3-butyric acid-mediated transcriptional repression of ARF6 and ARF8 genes in Arabidopsis

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Ectopic expression of auxin glycosyltransferase UGT84A2 in Arabidopsis can delay flowering through increased indole-3-butyric acid and suppressed transcription of ARF6, ARF8 and flowering-related genes FT, SOC1, AP1 and LFY.

Abstract

Auxins are critical regulators for plant growth and developmental processes. Auxin homeostasis is thus an important issue for plant biology. Here, we identified an indole-3-butyric acid (IBA)-specific glycosyltransferase, UGT84A2, and characterized its role in Arabidopsis flowering development. UGT84A2 could catalyze the glycosylation of IBA, but not indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). UGT84A2 transcription expression was clearly induced by IBA. When ectopically expressing in Arabidopsis, UGT84A2 caused obvious delay in flowering. Correspondingly, the increase of IBA level, the down-regulation of AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR 6 (ARF6) and ARF8, and the down-regulation of flowering-related genes such as FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO1(SOC1), APETALA1 (AP1), and LEAFY(LFY) were observed in transgenic plants. When exogenously applying IBA to wild-type plants, the late flowering phenotype, the down-regulation of ARF6, ARF8 and flowering-related genes recurred. We examined the arf6arf8 double mutants and found that the expression of flowering-related genes was also substantially decreased in these mutants. Together, our results suggest that glycosyltransferase UGT84A2 may be involved in flowering regulation through indole-3-butyric acid-mediated transcriptional repression of ARF6, ARF8 and downstream flowering pathway genes.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 91217301 and 31570299 to BKH; no. 31500230 to SHJ) and by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (no. ZR2017PC007 to GZZ). We thank Dr. Jason W. Reed (Department of Biology, University of North Carolina) for kindly providing us with the arf6arf8 double mutant seeds. brt1-1 mutant was ordered from the European Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC). We thank Dr. Jinfang Chu (The Plant Hormone Platform, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for help with the measurement of IBA level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Lab of Plant Cell Engineering and Germplasm Innovation, Ministry of Education of China, School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Gui-Zhi Zhang, Shang-Hui Jin, Pan Li, Xiao-Yi Jiang, Yan-Jie Li & Bing-Kai Hou

  2. School of Pharmacy, Linyi University, Linyi, 276000, China

    Gui-Zhi Zhang

  3. School of Life Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China

    Shang-Hui Jin

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  1. Gui-Zhi Zhang
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  2. Shang-Hui Jin
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Correspondence to Bing-Kai Hou.

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Communicated by Prakash P. Kumar.

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Zhang, GZ., Jin, SH., Li, P. et al. Ectopic expression of UGT84A2 delayed flowering by indole-3-butyric acid-mediated transcriptional repression of ARF6 and ARF8 genes in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell Rep 36, 1995–2006 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-017-2225-x

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