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Cytokinin-induced hypocotyl elongation in light-grown Arabidopsis plants with inhibited ethylene action or indole-3-acetic acid transport

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Abstract

Cytokinins inhibit hypocotyl elongation in darkness but have no obvious effect on hypocotyl length in the light. However, we found that cytokinins do promote hypocotyl elongation in the light when ethylene action is blocked. A 50% increase in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. hypocotyl length was observed in response to N6-benzyladenine (BA) treatment in the presence of Ag+. The level of the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid was strongly increased, indicating that ethylene biosynthesis was up-regulated by treatment with cytokinin. Furthermore, the effects of cytokinins on hypocotyl elongation were also tested using a series of mutants in the cascade of the ethylene-signal pathway. In the ethylene-insensitive mutants etr1-3 and ein2-1, cytokinin treatment resulted in hypocotyl lengths comparable to those of wild-type seedlings treated with both Ag+ and BA. A similar phenotypical response to cytokinin was observed when auxin transport was blocked by α-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA). Applied cytokinin largely restored cell elongation in the basal and middle parts of the hypocotyls of NPA-treated seedlings and at the same time abolished the NPA-induced decrease in indole-3-acetic acid levels. Our data support the hypothesis that, in the light, cytokinins interact with the ethylene-signalling pathway and conditionally up-regulate ethylene and auxin synthesis.

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Fig. 1a–d
Fig. 2a, b
Fig. 3a–e
Fig. 4

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Abbreviations

ACC :

1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid

AVG :

Aminoethoxyvinylglycine

BA :

N6-Benzyladenine

GUS :

β-Glucuronidase

IAA :

Indole-3-acetic acid

NPA :

α-Naphthylphthalamic acid

LNM :

Low-nutrition medium

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. A. Azmi (Department of Niology, University of Antwerp, Belgium) for advice and assistance and Dr. S. Nauwelaerts (Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Belgium) for help on the statistical analyses. We are grateful to Prof. D. Van Der Straeten (Department of Molecular Genetics, Ghent University, Belgium) and Dr. T. Beeckman (Department of Plant Systems Biology, Ghent University, Belgium) for the gift of the ethylene-response mutants and the DR5::GUS line, respectively, and to Dr. J. Blakeslee (Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA) for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by grant P5/13 from the “Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme—Belgian State—Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs”. R.S. and J.L. equally contributed to this paper.

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  1. Jie Le

    Present address: Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Belgium

    Rafaël Smets, Jie Le, Els Prinsen, Jean-Pierre Verbelen & Henri A. Van Onckelen

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  1. Rafaël Smets
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  2. Jie Le
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  3. Els Prinsen
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Correspondence to Henri A. Van Onckelen.

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Smets, R., Le, J., Prinsen, E. et al. Cytokinin-induced hypocotyl elongation in light-grown Arabidopsis plants with inhibited ethylene action or indole-3-acetic acid transport. Planta 221, 39–47 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-004-1421-4

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