phytosterols and indoleacetic-acid

The objective of this study was to increase our understanding of the relationship between brassinosteroids (BRs) and gibberellins (GAs) by examining the effects of BR deficiency on the GA biosynthesis pathway in several tissue types of pea (Pisum sativum L.). It was suggested recently that, in Arabidopsis, BRs act as positive regulators of GA 20-oxidation, a key step in GA biosynthesis [Bouquin et al. (2001) Plant Physiol 127:450-458]. However, this may not be the case in pea as GA20 levels were consistently higher in all shoot tissues of BR-deficient (lk and lkb) and BR-response (lka) mutants. The application of brassinolide (BL) to lkb plants reduced GA20 levels, and metabolism studies revealed a reduced conversion of GA19 to GA20 in epi-BL-treated lkb plants. These results indicate that BRs actually negatively regulate GA20 levels in pea. Although GA20 levels are affected by BR levels, this does not result in consistent changes in the level of the bioactive GA, GA1. Therefore, even though a clear interaction exists between endogenous BR levels and the level of GA20, this interaction may not be biologically significant. In addition to the effect of BRs on GA levels, the effect of altered GA1 levels on endogenous BR levels was examined. There was no significant difference in BR levels between the GA mutants and the wild type (wt), indicating that altered GA1 levels have no effect on BR levels in pea. It appears that the BR growth response is not mediated by changes in bioactive GA levels, thus providing further evidence that BRs are important regulators of stem elongation.

Topics: Arabidopsis; Gibberellins; Indoleacetic Acids; Phytosterols; Pisum sativum; Plant Growth Regulators

Despite numerous physiological studies addressing the interactions between brassinosteroids (BRs) and auxins, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms. We studied the expression of IAA5 and IAA19 in response to treatment with indole acetic acid (IAA) or brassinolide (BL), the most active BR. Exogenous IAA induced these genes quickly and transiently, whereas exogenous BL induced them gradually and continuously. We also found that a fusion of DR5, a synthetic auxin response element, with the GUS (beta-glucuronidase) gene was induced with similar kinetics to those of the IAA5 and IAA19 genes in response to both IAA and BL treatment of transgenic plants. These results suggest that the IAA genes are induced by BL, at least in part, via the activation of the auxin response element. Endogenous IAA levels per gram fresh weight did not increase when seedlings of Arabidopsis wild type (WT) or the BR-deficient mutant det2 were treated with BL. Furthermore, the levels of IAA transcripts were lower in the det2 mutant than in the WT, even though endogenous IAA levels per gram fresh weight were higher in the det2 mutant than in the WT. In conclusion, the lack of evidence for auxin-mediated activation of early auxin-inducible genes in response to BL suggests that the BR and auxin signaling pathways independently activate the transcriptional system of the IAA and DR5-GUS genes.

Topics: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Proteins; Base Sequence; Brassinosteroids; Cholestanols; DNA Primers; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Glucuronidase; Indoleacetic Acids; Phytosterols; Plant Growth Regulators; Plants, Genetically Modified; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Steroids, Heterocyclic