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Regulation of the gibberellin pathway by auxin and DELLA proteins

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Abstract

The synthesis and deactivation of bioactive gibberellins (GA) are regulated by auxin and by GA signalling. The effect of GA on its own pathway is mediated by DELLA proteins. Like auxin, the DELLAs promote GA synthesis and inhibit its deactivation. Here, we investigate the relationships between auxin and DELLA regulation of the GA pathway in stems, using a pea double mutant that is deficient in DELLA proteins. In general terms our results demonstrate that auxin and DELLAs independently regulate the GA pathway, contrary to some previous suggestions. The extent to which DELLA regulation was able to counteract the effects of auxin regulation varied from gene to gene. For Mendel’s LE gene (PsGA3ox1) no counteraction was observed. However, for another synthesis gene, a GA 20-oxidase, the effect of auxin was weak and in WT plants appeared to be completely over-ridden by DELLA regulation. For a key GA deactivation (2-oxidase) gene, PsGA2ox1, the up-regulation induced by auxin deficiency was reduced to some extent by DELLA regulation. A second pea 2-oxidase gene, PsGA2ox2, was up-regulated by auxin, in a DELLA-independent manner. In Arabidopsis also, one 2-oxidase gene was down-regulated by auxin while another was up-regulated. Monitoring the metabolism pattern of GA20 showed that in Arabidopsis, as in pea, auxin can promote the accumulation of bioactive GA.

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Abbreviations

GA:

Gibberellin

HPLC:

High performance liquid chromatography

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Acknowledgments

We thank Atsushi Hanada, Kieran Uren, Patricia Salter, Jennifer Smith and Michelle Bauer for technical assistance, Professor Lewis Mander (ANU, Canberra) for labelled GAs, and Gregory Jordan for assistance with statistical analyses. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council. DPO was the recipient of a Research Fellowship funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agilent Technologies Australia, Forest Hill, VIC, 3131, Australia

    Damian P. O’Neill

  2. School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

    Sandra E. Davidson, James B. Reid & John J. Ross

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Victoria C. Clarke

  4. National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS), Kannondai 2-1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8602, Japan

    Yukika Yamauchi

  5. RIKEN Plant Science Center, Tsurumi, Yokohama, 230-0045, Japan

    Shinjiro Yamaguchi & Yuji Kamiya

Authors
  1. Damian P. O’Neill
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  2. Sandra E. Davidson
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  3. Victoria C. Clarke
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  4. Yukika Yamauchi
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  7. James B. Reid
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  8. John J. Ross
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Correspondence to John J. Ross.

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O’Neill, D.P., Davidson, S.E., Clarke, V.C. et al. Regulation of the gibberellin pathway by auxin and DELLA proteins. Planta 232, 1141–1149 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1248-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1248-0

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