Abstract
Auxin regulates diverse aspects of flower development in plants, such as differentiation of the apical meristem, elongation of the stamen, and maturation of anthers and pollen. It is known that auxin accumulates in pollen, but little information regarding the biological relevance of auxin in this tissue at different times of development is available. In this work, we manipulated the amount of free auxin specifically in developing pollen, using transgenic Arabidopsis lines that express the bacterial indole-3-acetic acid-lysine synthetase (iaaL) gene driven by a collection of pollen-specific promoters. The iaaL gene codes for an indole-3-acetic acid-lysine synthetase that catalyzes the conversion of free auxin into inactive indole-3-acetyl-l-lysine. The transgenic lines showed several abnormalities, including the absence of short stamina, a diminished seed set, aberrant pollen tubes, and perturbations in the synchronization of anther dehiscence and stamina development. This article describes the importance of auxin accumulation in pollen and its role in stamina and anther development.
Highlights
Auxins are phytohormones of major importance for plant growth and development
We demonstrate that the accumulation of auxin in the pollen grain plays an essential role for the stamina and anther development
Auxin is involved in virtually all plant developmental processes, including flower development
Summary
Auxins are phytohormones of major importance for plant growth and development. There is extensive evidence of how this plant hormone regulates different physiological processes, such as cell development, including cell division, differentiation, and elongation, wall plasticity, tropisms, apical dominance, senescence, and flower development [1,2]. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is the most common naturally occurring active auxin in plants. The active free IAA comprises only up to 25% of the total amount of IAA in a cell, depending on the tissue and plant species investigated. The majority of cellular auxin is found in inactive forms, conjugated to either amino acids, sugars, or small peptides [3]. The metabolic control of the cellular auxin homeostasis through a tight regulation of de novo auxin biosynthesis, auxin degradation, and conjugation/deconjugation decisively orchestrates plant developmental processes [4]
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