Abstract
Summary Plants display numerous strategies to cope with phosphate (Pi)‐deficiency. Despite multiple genetic studies, the molecular mechanisms of low‐Pi‐signalling remain unknown. To validate the interest of chemical genetics to investigate this pathway we discovered and analysed the effects of PHOSTIN (PSN), a drug mimicking Pi‐starvation in Arabidopsis.We assessed the effects of PSN and structural analogues on the induction of Pi‐deficiency responses in mutants and wild‐type and followed their accumulation in plants organs by high pressure liquid chromotography (HPLC) or mass‐spectrophotometry.We show that PSN is cleaved in the growth medium, releasing its active motif (PSN11), which accumulates in plants roots. Despite the overaccumulation of Pi in the roots of treated plants, PSN11 elicits both local and systemic Pi‐starvation effects. Nevertheless, albeit that the transcriptional activation of low‐Pi genes by PSN11 is lost in the phr1;phl1 double mutant, neither PHO1 nor PHO2 are required for PSN11 effects.The range of local and systemic responses to Pi‐starvation elicited, and their dependence on the PHR1/PHL1 function suggests that PSN11 affects an important and early step of Pi‐starvation signalling. Its independence from PHO1 and PHO2 suggest the existence of unknown pathway(s), showing the usefulness of PSN and chemical genetics to bring new elements to this field.
Highlights
Phosphorus is a fundamental element for life
We demonstrate that chemical genetics is a valid method to investigate Pi-homeostasis regulation
All Arabidopsis thaliana L. (Heynh.) lines used are in the Columbia (Col-0) or in the Coler105 backgrounds, a Columbia background with the null allele erecta-105 (NASC reference N89504; Torii et al, 1996), except the pPHT1;4::bglucuronidase (GUS) line in WS background (Misson et al, 2004)
Summary
Phosphorus is a fundamental element for life. As for several other nutrients (nitrate, potassium, iron, etc.), spatial and temporal phosphate (Pi)-deficiency triggers in plants local and long-distance (systemic) molecular, biochemical and morphological responses, in order to adapt their physiology to the heterogeneous distribution and availability of Pi in soil.Transcriptomic analysis in Arabidopsis has helped to decipher networks and clusters of target genes that are coordinately regulated by Pi-starvation. As for several other nutrients (nitrate, potassium, iron, etc.), spatial and temporal phosphate (Pi)-deficiency triggers in plants local and long-distance (systemic) molecular, biochemical and morphological responses, in order to adapt their physiology to the heterogeneous distribution and availability of Pi in soil. Genes locally induced are involved in stress responses (oxidative processes, defence responses and metal detoxification) (Thibaud et al, 2010). Local responses depend of the Pi concentration in the growth medium surrounding the tissues (Bates & Lynch, 1996; Svistoonoff et al, 2007; Thibaud et al, 2010), while systemic responses depend on the phosphorus status of the whole plant (Foehse & Jungk, 1983; Linkohr et al, 2002; Thibaud et al, 2010)
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