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First published online October 22, 2003

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Hairy tips for plant development

Many developmental processes in plants are controlled by the hormone auxin (indole-acetic acid) via regulation (both at the level of transcription and of protein degradation) of the abundance of the Aux/IAA family of transcriptional regulators. Surprisingly, similar mutations in different but highly homologous Aux/IAAs can have very different phenotypic effects, but how this specificity is achieved is unknown. On p. 5769, Knox et al. describe how a gain-of-function mutation that makes AXR3 resistant to auxin-mediated degradation blocked root hair initiation and elongation in Arabidopsis, while a similar mutation in the homologous SHY2 stimulated early root hair initiation and prolonged elongation. When the mutant forms of AXR3 and SHY2 were co-expressed, aberrant root hairs were initiated but failed to grow. On the basis of their results and the known dimerisation properties of the Aux/IAAs, the researchers propose that the relative abundance of different Aux/IAAs, rather than their absolute amounts, is the key for determining which developmental process auxin induces.

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Related articles in Development:

AXR3 and SHY2 interact to regulate root hair development

Kirsten Knox, Claire S. Grierson, and Ottoline Leyser
Development 2003 130: 5769-5777. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?