Abstract

Size control is a fundamental question in biology, showing incremental complexity in plants, whose cells possess a rigid cell wall. The phytohormone auxin is a vital growth regulator with central importance for differential growth control. Our results indicate that auxin-reliant growth programs affect the molecular complexity of xyloglucans, the major type of cell wall hemicellulose in eudicots. Auxin-dependent induction and repression of growth coincide with reduced and enhanced molecular complexity of xyloglucans, respectively. In agreement with a proposed function in growth control, genetic interference with xyloglucan side decorations distinctly modulates auxin-dependent differential growth rates. Our work proposes that auxin-dependent growth programs have a spatially defined effect on xyloglucan's molecular structure, which in turn affects cell wall mechanics and specifies differential, gravitropic hypocotyl growth.

Keywords

auxin; growth; cell wall; xyloglucans; hypocotyls; gravitropism

Published in

International Journal of Molecular Sciences
2021, Volume: 22, number: 17, article number: 9222
Publisher: MDPI

SLU Authors

• Aryal, Bibek

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Novak, Ondrej

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Palacký University Olomouc

• Bhalerao, Rishikesh P.

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179222

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113710