Interspecies co-expression analysis of lateral root development using inducible systems in rice, Medicago, and Arabidopsis.

Lateral roots are crucial for plant growth and development, making them an important target for research aiming to improve crop yields and food security. However, their endogenous ontogeny and, as it were, stochastic appearance challenge their study. Lateral Root Inducible Systems (LRIS) can be used to overcome these challenges by inducing lateral roots massively and synchronously.

Distinct genetic basis for root responses to lipo-chitooligosaccharide signal molecules from different microbial origins.

Lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) were originally found as symbiotic signals called Nod Factors (Nod-LCOs) controlling the nodulation of legumes by rhizobia. More recently, LCOs were also found in symbiotic fungi and, more surprisingly, very widely in the kingdom Fungi, including in saprophytic and pathogenic fungi. The LCO-V(C18:1, fucosylated/methyl fucosylated), hereafter called Fung-LCOs, are the LCO structures most commonly found in fungi.

mutant shows reduced root developmental response to symbiotic signal but increased arbuscular mycorrhiza.

Auxin is a major phytohormone that controls root development. A role for auxin is also emerging in the control of plant-microbe interactions, including for the establishment of root endosymbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Auxin perception is important both for root colonization by AMF and for arbuscule formation.

Lipo-chitooligosaccharides promote lateral root formation and modify auxin homeostasis in Brachypodium distachyon.

Lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) are microbial symbiotic signals that also influence root growth. In Medicago truncatula, LCOs stimulate lateral root formation (LRF) synergistically with auxin. However, the molecular mechanisms of this phenomenon and whether it is restricted to legume plants are not known.

Mini-Review: Nod Factor Regulation of Phytohormone Signaling and Homeostasis During Rhizobia-Legume Symbiosis.

The rhizobia-legume symbiosis is a mutualistic association in which bacteria provide plants with nitrogen compounds and the plant provides bacteria with carbon sources. A successful symbiotic interaction relies on a molecular dialog between the plant and the bacteria, and generally involves rhizobial lipo-chitooligosaccharide signals called Nod factors (NFs). In most cases, specific NF perception is required for rhizobia to enter root cells through newly formed intracellular structures called infection threads (ITs).

Adapting the Lateral Root-Inducible System to Medicago truncatula.

Almost all legume plants have the capacity to form two types of root organs: lateral roots and nodules (that will host rhizobia that fix nitrogen). Transcriptomic analyses are useful to understand both the similarities and differences between nodule and LR formation and to compare the LR developmental programs used by Arabidopsis and model legumes such as Medicago truncatula. However, in M.

Development of a GAL4-VP16/UAS trans-activation system for tissue specific expression in Medicago truncatula.

Promoters with tissue-specific activity are very useful to address cell-autonomous and non cell autonomous functions of candidate genes. Although this strategy is widely used in Arabidopsis thaliana, its use to study tissue-specific regulation of root symbiotic interactions in legumes has only started recently. Moreover, using tissue specific promoter activity to drive a GAL4-VP16 chimeric transcription factor that can bind short upstream activation sequences (UAS) is an efficient way to target and enhance the expression of any gene of interest.

Nod factors potentiate auxin signaling for transcriptional regulation and lateral root formation in Medicago truncatula.

Nodulation (Nod) factors (NFs) are symbiotic molecules produced by rhizobia that are essential for establishment of the rhizobium-legume endosymbiosis. Purified NFs can stimulate lateral root formation (LRF) in Medicago truncatula, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved. Using a combination of reporter constructs, pharmacological and genetic approaches, we show that NFs act on early steps of LRF in M.

Combined genetic and transcriptomic analysis reveals three major signalling pathways activated by Myc-LCOs in Medicago truncatula.

Myc-LCOs are newly identified symbiotic signals produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Like rhizobial Nod factors, they are lipo-chitooligosaccharides that activate the common symbiotic signalling pathway (CSSP) in plants. To increase our limited understanding of the roles of Myc-LCOs we aimed to analyse Myc-LCO-induced transcriptional changes and their genetic control.

Hormonal Control of Lateral Root and Nodule Development in Legumes.

Many plants can establish symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, some of which lead to nodulation, including legumes. Indeed, in the rhizobium/legume symbiosis, new root organs, called nodules, are formed by the plant in order to host the rhizobia in protective conditions, optimized for nitrogen fixation. In this way, these plants can benefit from the reduction of atmospheric dinitrogen into ammonia by the hosted bacteria, and in exchange the plant provides the rhizobia with a carbon source.

Abscisic acid promotes pre-emergence stages of lateral root development in Medicago truncatula.

The plant root system is important for plant anchorage and nutrition. Among the different characteristics of the root system, root branching is a major factor of plasticity and adaptation to changing environments. Indeed, many biotic and abiotic stresses, such as drought or symbiotic interactions, influence root branching.

Lateral root formation and patterning in Medicago truncatula.

The plant root system is crucial for anchorage and nutrition, and has a major role in plant adaptation, as well as in interactions with soil micro-organisms. Despite the agronomical and ecological importance of legume plants, whose roots can interact symbiotically with soil bacteria called rhizobia that fix atmospheric dinitrogen, and the evidence that lateral root (LR) development programmes are intercepted and influenced by symbiotic organisms, very little is known concerning the cellular and molecular events governing LR development in legumes. To better understand the interconnections between LR formation and symbiotic processes triggered by rhizobia or symbiotic molecules such as lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs), we first need a detailed description of LR development mechanisms in legumes.

Cell autonomous and non-cell autonomous control of rhizobial and mycorrhizal infection in Medicago truncatula.

Legumes can form a nitrogen fixing symbiosis with soil bacteria called rhizobia (the RL symbiosis). They can also, like most plants, form symbiotic associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, which facilitate plants' phosphate nutrition. In both interactions, the symbionts are hosted inside the plant root.

Epidermal and cortical roles of NFP and DMI3 in coordinating early steps of nodulation in Medicago truncatula.

Legumes have evolved the capacity to form a root nodule symbiosis with soil bacteria called rhizobia. The establishment of this symbiosis involves specific developmental events occurring both in the root epidermis (notably bacterial entry) and at a distance in the underlying root cortical cells (notably cell divisions leading to nodule organogenesis). The processes of bacterial entry and nodule organogenesis are tightly linked and both depend on rhizobial production of lipo-chitooligosaccharide molecules called Nod factors.

Generation of leaf shape through early patterns of growth and tissue polarity.

A major challenge in biology is to understand how buds comprising a few cells can give rise to complex plant and animal appendages like leaves or limbs. We address this problem through a combination of time-lapse imaging, clonal analysis, and computational modeling. We arrive at a model that shows how leaf shape can arise through feedback between early patterns of oriented growth and tissue deformation.

Contribution of NFP LysM domains to the recognition of Nod factors during the Medicago truncatula/Sinorhizobium meliloti symbiosis.

The root nodule nitrogen fixing symbiosis between legume plants and soil bacteria called rhizobia is of great agronomical and ecological interest since it provides the plant with fixed atmospheric nitrogen. The establishment of this symbiosis is mediated by the recognition by the host plant of lipo-chitooligosaccharides called Nod Factors (NFs), produced by the rhizobia. This recognition is highly specific, as precise NF structures are required depending on the host plant.

Mutational spaces for leaf shape and size.

A key approach to understanding how genes control growth and form is to analyze mutants in which shape and size have been perturbed. Although many mutants of this kind have been described in plants and animals, a general quantitative framework for describing them has yet to be established. Here we describe an approach based on Principal Component Analysis of organ landmarks and outlines.

Characterization of three homologous basic leucine zipper transcription factors (bZIP) of the ABI5 family during Arabidopsis thaliana embryo maturation.

The Arabidopsis thaliana genome contains approximately 80 genes encoding basic leucine zipper transcription factors, divided into 11 groups. Abscisic Acid-Insensitive 5 (ABI5) is one of the 13 members of group A and is involved in ABA signalling during seed maturation, and germination. Seven other members of this group are expressed during seed maturation, but only one of them (Enhanced Em Level, EEL) has been functionally characterized during this developmental phase.

Analysis of an activated ABI5 allele using a new selection method for transgenic Arabidopsis seeds.

The Arabidopsis abscisic acid (ABA) insensitive (ABI)5 transcription factor participates in the ABA-dependent induction of late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) genes in the final stages of seed development. We tested whether the VP16 transcriptional activation domain is sufficient to provide ABI5 with the ability to activate the AtEm LEA genes in vegetative tissues. We took advantage of a new transgenic seed selection assay based on green fluorescent protein (GFP) fluorescence and found that VP16-ABI5 triggered growth retardation and ABA-independent induction of AtEm1 in seedlings.

The homologous ABI5 and EEL transcription factors function antagonistically to fine-tune gene expression during late embryogenesis.

In Arabidopsis, the basic leucine zipper transcription factor ABI5 activates several late embryogenesis-abundant genes, including AtEm1 and AtEm6. However, the expression of many other seed maturation genes is independent of ABI5. We investigated the possibility that ABI5 homologs also participate in the regulation of gene expression during seed maturation.