FERONIA receptor kinase pathway suppresses abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis by activating ABI2 phosphatase

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Sep 4;109(36):14693-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1212547109. Epub 2012 Aug 20.

Abstract

Plant growth and development are controlled by a delicate balance of hormonal cues. Growth-promoting hormones and growth-inhibiting counterparts often antagonize each other in their action, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these events remain largely unknown. Here, we report a cross-talk mechanism that enables a receptor-like kinase, FERONIA (FER), a positive regulator of auxin-promoted growth, to suppress the abscisic acid (ABA) response through activation of ABI2, a negative regulator of ABA signaling. The FER pathway consists of a FER kinase interacting with guanine exchange factors GEF1, GEF4, and GEF10 that, in turn, activate GTPase ROP11/ARAC10. Arabidopsis mutants disrupted in any step of the FER pathway, including fer, gef1gef4gef10, or rop11/arac10, all displayed an ABA-hypersensitive response, implicating the FER pathway in the suppression mechanism. In search of the target for the FER pathway, we found that the ROP11/ARAC10 protein physically interacted with the ABI2 phosphatase and enhanced its activity, thereby linking the FER pathway with the inhibition of ABA signaling.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abscisic Acid / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Abscisic Acid / metabolism*
  • Arabidopsis / enzymology*
  • Arabidopsis / growth & development*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • DNA Primers / genetics
  • Enzyme Activation / physiology*
  • GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Glucuronidase / metabolism
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / metabolism*
  • Phosphotransferases / metabolism*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Signal Transduction / physiology*
  • Transformation, Genetic
  • rho GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • rho GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • DNA Primers
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Abscisic Acid
  • FERONIA receptor like kinase, Arabidopsis
  • Phosphotransferases
  • ABI2 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases
  • Glucuronidase
  • GTP-Binding Proteins
  • ROP10 protein, Arabidopsis
  • ROP11 protein, Arabidopsis
  • rho GTP-Binding Proteins