Abstract
Auxin is a well-studied phytohormone, vital for diverse plant developmental processes. The GH3 genes are one of the major auxin responsive genes, whose expression changes lead to modulation of plant development and auxin homeostasis. However, the transcriptional regulation of these GH3 genes remains largely unknown. WRI1 is an essential transcriptional regulator governing plant fatty acid biosynthesis. Recently, we identified that the expression of GH3.3 is increased in the roots of wri1-1 mutant. Nevertheless, in this study we found that AtWRI1 did not activate or repress the promoter of GH3.3 (proGH3.3) despite of its binding to proGH3.3. Cross-family transcription factor interactions play pivotal roles in plant gene regulatory networks. To explore the molecular mechanism by which WRI1 controls GH3.3 expression, we screened an Arabidopsis transcription factor library and identified TCP20 as a novel AtWRI1-interacting regulator. The interaction between AtWRI1 and TCP20 was further verified by several approaches. Importantly, we found that TCP20 directly regulates GH3.3 expression via binding to TCP binding element. Furthermore, AtWRI1 repressed the TCP20-mediated transactivation of proGH3.3. EMSAs demonstrated that AtWRI1 antagonized TCP20 from binding to proGH3.3. Collectively, we provide new insights that WRI1 attenuates GH3.3 expression through interaction with TCP20, highlighting a new mechanism that contributes to fine-tuning auxin homeostasis.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-7-2022
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11030454
Funding Information
This work was supported by a Nanyang Technological University Startup grant to W.M. and a Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore Tier 1 to W.M. (grant number: RG140/18).
Related Content
All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and within its Supplementary Materials published online.
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/plants11030454/s1.
Repository Citation
Kong, Que; Low, Pui Man; Lim, Audrey R. Q.; Yang, Yuzhou; Yuan, Ling; and Ma, Wei, "Functional Antagonism of WRI1 and TCP20 Modulates GH3.3 Expression to Maintain Auxin Homeostasis in Roots" (2022). Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center Faculty Publications. 26.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ktrdc_facpub/26
Supplementary Figures S1-S5 and Tables S1-S2
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Plants, v. 11, issue 3, 454.
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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