Does NO play a role in cytokinin signal transduction?

Romanov, Georgy A.; Lomin, Sergey N.; Rakova, Natalia Yu.; Heyl, Alexander; Schmülling, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2008.02.016

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Volume 582, Issue 6 , Pages 874-880, 19 March 2008

Does NO play a role in cytokinin signal transduction?

Edited by Julian Schroeder

Georgy A. Romanov
- Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Botanicheskaya 35, 127276 Moscow, Russia
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Applied Genetics, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
- Corresponding author. Address: Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Botanicheskaya 35, 127276 Moscow, Russia. Fax: +7 495 977 80 18.
Sergey N. Lomin
- Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Botanicheskaya 35, 127276 Moscow, Russia
Natalia Yu. Rakova
- Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Botanicheskaya 35, 127276 Moscow, Russia
Alexander Heyl
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Applied Genetics, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany
Thomas Schmülling
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Biology, Applied Genetics, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany

Received 12 January 2008; received in revised form 6 February 2008; accepted 8 February 2008. published online 19 February 2008.

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in cytokinin signaling. Inhibitors of NO-synthase (NOS), L-NMMA and L-NAME, inhibited the expression of the GUS gene controlled by the cytokinin-responsive ARR5 promoter. However, the inactive analogues D-NMMA and D-NAME had a similar inhibitory activity. NO donors alone did not induce GUS activity and the NO scavenger cPTIO did not prevent the induction of the ARR5 promoter by cytokinin. Northern blot analysis of the P_ARR5::GUS transgene and the host ARR5 gene revealed that cytokinin-induced transcript accumulation was not altered by NMMA-treatment, indicating that NMMA acts post-transcriptionally. Together the data show that NO has no direct role in eliciting the primary cytokinin response in plants.

Keywords: Cytokinin, Nitric oxide, Signal transduction, Arabidopsis, Amaranthus