Browsing by Author "Bennett, Malcolm J."

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A mechanistic framework for auxin dependent Arabidopsis root hair elongation to low external phosphate
(Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Bhosale, Rahul; Giri, Jitender; Pandey, Bipin K.; Giehl, Ricardo F.H.; Hartmann, Anja; Traini, Richard; Truskina, Jekaterina; Leftley, Nicola; Hanlon, Meredith; Swarup, Kamal; Rashed, Afaf; Voß, Ute; Alonso, Jose; Stepanova, Anna; Yun, Jeonga; Ljung, Karin; Brown, Kathleen M.; Lynch, Jonathan P.; Dolan, Liam; Vernoux, Teva; Bishopp, Anthony; Wells, Darren; Wirén, Nicolaus von; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Swarup, Ranjan
Phosphate (P) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth. Roots employ adaptive mechanisms to forage for P in soil. Root hair elongation is particularly important since P is immobile. Here we report that auxin plays a critical role promoting root hair growth in Arabidopsis in response to low external P. Mutants disrupting auxin synthesis (taa1) and transport (aux1) attenuate the low P root hair response. Conversely, targeting AUX1 expression in lateral root cap and epidermal cells rescues this low P response in aux1. Hence auxin transport from the root apex to differentiation zone promotes auxin-dependent hair response to low P. Low external P results in induction of root hair expressed auxin-inducible transcription factors ARF19, RSL2, and RSL4. Mutants lacking these genes disrupt the low P root hair response. We conclude auxin synthesis, transport and response pathway components play critical roles regulating this low P root adaptive response.
OsJAZ11 regulates phosphate starvation responses in rice
(Springer Nature Publishing AG, 2021) Pandey, Bipin K.; Verma, Lokesh; Prusty, Ankita; Singh, Ajit Pal; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.; Giri, Jitender; Mehra, Poonam
Jasmonic Acid (JA) is a key plant signaling molecule which negatively regulates growth processes including root elongation. JAZ (JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN) proteins function as transcriptional repressors of JA signaling. Therefore, targeting JA signaling by deploying JAZ repressors may enhance root length in crops. In this study, we overexpressed JAZ repressor OsJAZ11 in rice to alleviate the root growth inhibitory action of JA. OsJAZ11 is a low phosphate (Pi) responsive gene which is transcriptionally regulated by OsPHR2. We report that OsJAZ11 overexpression promoted primary and seminal root elongation which enhanced Pi foraging. Expression studies revealed that overexpression of OsJAZ11 also reduced Pi starvation response (PSR) under Pi limiting conditions. Moreover, OsJAZ11 overexpression also suppressed JA signaling and biosynthesis as compared to wild type (WT). We further demonstrated that the C-terminal region of OsJAZ11 was crucial for stimulating root elongation in overexpression lines. Rice transgenics overexpressing truncated OsJAZ11ΔC transgene (i.e., missing C-terminal region) exhibited reduced root length and Pi uptake. Interestingly, OsJAZ11 also regulates Pi homeostasis via physical interaction with a key Pi sensing protein, OsSPX1. Our study highlights the functional connections between JA and Pi signaling and reveals JAZ repressors as a promising candidate for improving low Pi tolerance of elite rice genotypes.
OsJAZ11 regulates spikelet and seed development in rice
(John Wiley & Sons, 2022) Mehra, Poonam; Pandey, Bipin K.; Verma, Lokesh; Prusty, Ankita; Singh, Ajit Pal; Sharma, Shivam; Malik, Naveen; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Parida, Swarup K.; Giri, Jitender; Tyagi, Akhilesh K.
Seed size is one of the major determinants of seed weight and eventually, crop yield. As the global population is increasing beyond the capacity of current food production, enhancing seed size is a key target for crop breeders. Despite the identification of several genes and QTLs, current understanding about the molecular regulation of seed size/weight remains fragmentary. In the present study, we report novel role of a jasmonic acid (JA) signaling repressor, OsJAZ11 controlling rice seed width and weight. Transgenic rice lines overexpressing OsJAZ11 exhibited up to a 14% increase in seed width and ~30% increase in seed weight compared to wild type (WT). Constitutive expression of OsJAZ11 dramatically influenced spikelet morphogenesis leading to extra glume-like structures, open hull, and abnormal numbers of floral organs. Furthermore, overexpression lines accumulated higher JA levels in spikelets and developing seeds. Expression studies uncovered altered expression of JA biosynthesis/signaling and MADS box genes in overexpression lines compared to WT. Yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays revealed that OsJAZ11 interacts with OsMADS29 and OsMADS68. Remarkably, expression of OsGW7, a key negative regulator of grain size, was significantly reduced in overexpression lines. We propose that OsJAZ11 participates in the regulation of seed size and spikelet development by coordinating the expression of JA-related, OsGW7 and MADS genes.
Rice actin binding protein RMD controls crown root angle in response to external phosphate
(Springer Nature, 2018) Huang, Guoqiang; Liang, Wanqi; Sturrock, Craig J.; Pandey, Bipin K.; Giri, Jitender; Mairhofer, Stefan; Wang, Daoyang; Muller, Lukas; Tan, Hexin; York, Larry M.; Yang, Jing; Song, Yu; Kim, Yu-Jin; Qiao, Yang; Xu, Jian; Kepinski, Stefan; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Zhang, Dabing
Root angle has a major impact on acquisition of nutrients like phosphate that accumulate in topsoil and in many species; low phosphate induces shallower root growth as an adaptive response. Identifying genes and mechanisms controlling root angle is therefore of paramount importance to plant breeding. Here we show that the actin-binding protein Rice Morphology Determinant (RMD) controls root growth angle by linking actin filaments and gravity-sensing organelles termed statoliths. RMD is upregulated in response to low external phosphate and mutants lacking of RMD have steeper crown root growth angles that are unresponsive to phosphate levels. RMD protein localizes to the surface of statoliths, and rmd mutants exhibit faster gravitropic response owing to more rapid statoliths movement. We conclude that adaptive changes to root angle in response to external phosphate availability are RMD dependent, providing a potential target for breeders.
Rice auxin influx carrier OsAUX1 facilitates root hair elongation in response to low external phosphate
(Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Giri, Jitender; Bhosale, Rahul; Huang, Guoqiang; Pandey, Bipin K.; Parker, Helen; Zappala, Susan; Yang, Jing; Dievart, Anne; Bureau, Charlotte; Ljung, Karin; Price, Adam; Rose, Terry; Larrieu, Antoine; Mairhofer, Stefan; Sturrock, Craig J.; White, Philip; Dupuy, Lionel; Hawkesford, Malcolm; Perin, Christophe; Liang, Wanqi; Peret, Benjamin; Hodgman, Charlie T.; Lynch, Jonathan; Wissuwa, Matthias; Zhang, Dabing; Pridmore, Tony; Mooney, Sacha J.; Guiderdoni, Emmanuel; Swarup, Ranjan; Bennett, Malcolm J.
Root traits such as root angle and hair length influence resource acquisition particularly for immobile nutrients like phosphorus (P). Here, we attempted to modify root angle in rice by disrupting the OsAUX1 auxin influx transporter gene in an effort to improve rice P acquisition efficiency. We show by X-ray microCT imaging that root angle is altered in the osaux1 mutant, causing preferential foraging in the top soil where P normally accumulates, yet surprisingly, P acquisition efficiency does not improve. Through closer investigation, we reveal that OsAUX1 also promotes root hair elongation in response to P limitation. Reporter studies reveal that auxin response increases in the root hair zone in low P environments. We demonstrate that OsAUX1 functions to mobilize auxin from the root apex to the differentiation zone where this signal promotes hair elongation when roots encounter low external P. We conclude that auxin and OsAUX1 play key roles in promoting root foraging for P in rice.