An in vivo GA- and ABA-responsive dual-luciferase reporter system for simultaneous detection of GA and ABA responses, hormone crosstalk and heat stress response in rice.

Abstract

Gibberellic acid (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) are the primary phytohormones that play antagonistic roles in the control of the transition from embryogenesis to germination in seeds (Finch-Savage and Leubner-Metzger, 2006). Given the low concentrations of GA and ABA in seeds and plants, biosynthesis inhibitors (Toh et al., 2008) or deficient mutants (Debeaujon and Koornneef, 2000) have been used to investigate the relative importance of their physiological functions. However, biosynthetic inhibitors may have pleiotropic effects in plants, and the use of GA- or ABA-deficient mutants does not permit simultaneous monitoring of dynamic changes in GA and ABA during seed development or germination (Dejonghe et al., 2018). Analytical determination provides accurate quantification of GA and ABA contents, but the extraction procedure is time-consuming, and the antagonism and dynamic changes between GA and ABA may not be detected.